Wellcome Open Research最新文献

{"title":"Efficacy of yoga-breath linked intervention to stop smoking (Y-BLISS) in reducing the number of cigarettes smoked per day among smokers attempting to reduce or quit: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.","authors":"Chandra Shekar Mv, Hemant Bhargav, Bharath Holla, Jayant Mahadevan, Amit Singh, Venkata Lakshmi Narasimha, Naresh Katla, Atmakur Snigdha, Komal S, E Maheswari","doi":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.22839.3","DOIUrl":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.22839.3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The proposed research aims to test the effects of a two-month yoga-breath linked intervention to stop smoking (Y-BLISS) as an add-on to standard treatment in tobacco use disorder (TUD; in the form of cigarette smoking) by conducting a randomized controlled study with the following primary outcome variable: number of cigarettes smoked per day. Secondary outcome variables are motivation to stop smoking, craving, dependence severity, lung capacity, and exhaled carbon-monoxide, and 7-day point-prevalence abstinence (7PPA). In this single-blinded, randomized, controlled, parallel-group superiority trial with 1:1 allocation ratio, 100 patients with TUD availing the outpatient/inpatient clinical services at a tertiary mental healthcare hospital in India will be enrolled after giving informed consent. Consecutive consenting patients will be randomly allotted to one of the two groups - yoga arm (Y-bliss arm), or desktop exercise arm (D-exercise arm). Allocation concealment will be followed, the clinicians, outcome assessors and data analysts will remain blind to subject-group allocation. A validated and standardized 12-minute yoga program (Y-BLISS) for TUD will be used as an intervention. The control group will receive an equivalent 12-minute desktop exercise module. Participants in respective arms will receive 40 online supervised sessions over 8 weeks, 5 sessions per week in the mornings as they will be asked to practice the same on an as-neededs basis whenever they feel cravings for cigarette smoking. Assessments will be done at baseline, 4th week and 8 ^th week. Data from all randomized subjects will be analyzed using intent-to-treat analysis and mixed model multivariate analysis. Dissemination Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and social media. Trial registration number The trial has been registered under Clinical Trials Registry India (CTRI) with the registration number: CTRI/2022/12/048117, date of registration: 14 ^th December 2022.</p>","PeriodicalId":23677,"journal":{"name":"Wellcome Open Research","volume":"9 ","pages":"693"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13560800/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148956641","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tell Your Story: Strengthening Scientific Engagement and Welfare Leadership among Animal Technologists.","authors":"Sian Murphy, Christophe Galichet, James Baker, Luke O'Hara, Jordi L-Tremoleda, Eleni M Amaniti","doi":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.25958.3","DOIUrl":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.25958.3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Animal Technologists (ATs) are vital in the scientific community, offering crucial expertise in animal care, welfare, and experimental procedures. As projects become more complex, there is an increasing opportunity for ATs to engage actively in scientific projects, decision-making, and collaborative research processes. Unfortunately, many ATs may feel that their professional background is insufficient or may not consistently recognise the significant scientific value of their daily activities. These perceptions can result in missed opportunities for personal and professional growth, and for advancing Refinement and Reduction initiatives within and outside their establishments.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In developing the resource, our pilot study took into account commonly reported barriers to ATs engagement in scientific communication and collaboration, including perceptions of role boundaries and confidence in interactions with researchers and management. We describe the development of a practical resource designed to support ATs' self-awareness, confidence, and engagement in scientific discussions by helping them articulate their expertise clearly and effectively. The resources were evaluated during \"Tell Your Story\" workshops.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Feedback from the workshops was consistently positive. Participants reported increased confidence in recognising and communicating the scientific value of their work, as well as improved engagement in scientific discussions and collaboration.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>By combining an understanding of the challenges with practical tools and clear strategies, this pilot study suggests that ATs can be supported to recognise and develop their roles as knowledgeable scientific contributors and welfare advocates. This enables ATs to confidently share their expertise, advance their careers, enhance research quality and reproducibility, support the 3Rs principles, and strengthen the culture of care within a more collaborative and inclusive scientific research environment.</p>","PeriodicalId":23677,"journal":{"name":"Wellcome Open Research","volume":"11 ","pages":"243"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13555090/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148931227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exposure to parasitic infections is associated with features and phenotypes of active convulsive epilepsy in Africa.","authors":"Nelson K Langat, Symon M Kariuki, Gathoni Kamuyu, Angelina Kakooza-Mwesige, Seth Owusu-Agyei, Kenneth Ae-Ngibise, Anne Wang'ombe, Anthony K Ngugi, Honorati Masaja, Ryan G Wagner, Charles R J C Newton","doi":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.17049.3","DOIUrl":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.17049.3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Epilepsy affects 70 million people worldwide, 80% of whom are in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). Parasitic infections contribute considerably to the burden of epilepsy in LMICs, but the nature and presentation of epilepsy following these infections is not fully understood. We examined if epilepsy outcomes are associated with the exposure to parasitic infections.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This was a case-comparison study nested in a cross-sectional survey of people with active convulsive epilepsy, with cases as those exposed to parasitic infections, and comparison as those unexposed. Associations of exposure to parasites with clinical and electroencephalographic features of epilepsy were done using a modified mixed effects Poisson regression model across five sites in Africa. Multiplicative and additive scale (RERI) interactions were explored to determine the effect of co-infections on epilepsy features. Population attributable fractions (PAF) were calculated to determine the proportion of severe clinical and electroencephalographic features of epilepsy attributable to parasitic infections.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 997 participants with active convulsive epilepsy from the five African sites were analyzed, 51% of whom were males. Exposure to parasitic infections was associated with more frequent seizures in adult epilepsy (relative risk (RR) = 2.58, 95% confidence interval (95%CI): 1.71-3.89). In children, exposure to any parasite was associated with convulsive status epilepticus (RR = 4.68, (95%CI, 3.79-5.78), intellectual disabilities (RR = 2.13, 95%CI: 1.35-3.34) and neurological deficits (RR = 1.92, 95%CI: 1.42-2.61). <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> and <i>Onchocerca volvulus</i> interacted synergistically to increase the risk of status epilepticus (RERI = 0.91, 95%CI = 0.48-1.35) in the data pooled across the sites. Exposure to parasitic infections contributed to 30% of severe features of epilepsy as shown by PAF.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Parasitic infections may be associated with features and phenotypes of epilepsy through synergistic or antagonistic interactions, which can be different in children and adults. Interventions to control or manage infections may reduce complications and improve prognosis in people with epilepsy.</p>","PeriodicalId":23677,"journal":{"name":"Wellcome Open Research","volume":"6 ","pages":"200"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13560818/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148956638","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The chromosomal genome sequence of the spiny sea fan, <i>Muricea muricata</i> (Pallas, 1766) (Malacalcyonacea: Plexauridae) and its associated microbial metagenome sequences.","authors":"Carlos Prada, Jose Victor Lopez, Nicholas Jones, Nina Pruzinsky, Graeme Oatley, Elizabeth Sinclair, Eerik Aunin, Noah Gettle, Camilla Santos, Michael Paulini, Haoyu Niu, Victoria McKenna, Rebecca O'Brien","doi":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.27232.1","DOIUrl":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.27232.1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We present a genome assembly from a <i>Muricea muricata</i> specimen (spiny sea fan; Cnidaria; Anthozoa; Malacalcyonacea; Plexauridae). The genome sequence has a total length of 453.40 megabases. Most of the assembly (98.45%) is scaffolded into 16 chromosomal pseudomolecules. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled, with a length of 19.29 kilobases. Gene annotation of this assembly by Ensembl identified 52 164 protein-coding genes. From the metagenome data, we recovered five bins, of which three were high-quality MAGs.</p>","PeriodicalId":23677,"journal":{"name":"Wellcome Open Research","volume":"11 ","pages":"512"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13560551/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148956642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The genome sequence of the muscid fly, <i>Hydrotaea similis</i> Meade, 1887 (Diptera: Muscidae).","authors":"Steven Falk, Liam M Crowley, Andrzej Grzywacz","doi":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.26885.2","DOIUrl":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.26885.2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We present a genome assembly from an individual female <i>Hydrotaea similis</i> (muscid fly; Arthropoda; Insecta; Diptera; Muscidae). The assembly contains two haplotypes with total lengths of 884.66 megabases and 852.78 megabases. Most of haplotype 1 (90.83%) is scaffolded into 5 chromosomal pseudomolecules. Haplotype 2 was assembled to scaffold level. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled, with a length of 20.27 kilobases. This assembly was generated as part of the Darwin Tree of Life project, which produces genomes for eukaryotic species found in Britain and Ireland.</p>","PeriodicalId":23677,"journal":{"name":"Wellcome Open Research","volume":"11 ","pages":"399"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13560591/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148956769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Outborn Neonates in Nairobi's Public Hospitals: Mortality Burden and Risk Factors.","authors":"John Wainaina, John Gachohi, Jalemba Aluvaala","doi":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.25241.2","DOIUrl":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.25241.2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Neonatal mortality remains a significant challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa. Outborn neonates - those born outside the admitting hospital - are particularly vulnerable, yet their outcomes remain under-characterized in many low-resource urban settings. This study examines the burden, characteristics, and mortality risk among outborn neonates admitted to public neonatal units in Nairobi, Kenya.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a retrospective cohort study across four high-volume public hospitals in Nairobi County, Kenya. A stratified random sample of 400 outborn neonates admitted between January and December 2023 was reviewed using medical records. To estimate outborn prevalence and the Population Attributable Fraction (PAF) for mortality, we analyzed registry data from 9,021 neonatal admissions with complete outcome and place-of-birth information. Referral distances were calculated using geocoded coordinates of referring and receiving facilities. Multivariable logistic regression identified factors independently associated with inpatient neonatal mortality.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Outborn neonates accounted for 17% of neonatal admissions, with a mortality rate of 25.6%, double that of inborn (12.5%; crude RR=2.05, p<0.001). The PAF was 15.0% (95% CI: 12.3-17.7%), indicating that one in seven neonatal deaths could be attributed to outborn status. Key factors were significantly associated with increased odds of mortality including; extremely low birth weight (<1000g; AOR=7.8, 95% CI: 2.6, 23), very low birth weight (1000-1499g; AOR= 4.7 95% CI:2.3, 9.7), hypothermia (AOR=2.2, 95% CI: 1.1, 4.5), respiratory distress (AOR=2.1, 95% CI: 1.2, 3.8), and referral distance >12.1 km (AOR=2.6, 95% CI: 1.1, 6.6). Most deaths (68%) occurred within three days of admission.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Outborn neonates in Nairobi's public hospitals face substantially higher early mortality, primarily driven by low birth weight, hypothermia, respiratory distress, and longer referral distances. Interventions targeting improved stabilization, timely referral, and early neonatal care are urgently needed. These findings provide actionable evidence to inform policies aimed at reducing neonatal mortality and advancing progress toward SDG 3.2.</p>","PeriodicalId":23677,"journal":{"name":"Wellcome Open Research","volume":"11 ","pages":"217"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13560558/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148956613","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The genome sequence of a nematode, <i>Thelazia callipaeda</i> Railliet & Henry, 1910 (Rhabditida: Thelaziidae).","authors":"Ana Luísa Martins, Lewis Stevens, Manuela Kieninger, Joana Mourão, Irina Amorim, João Rodrigo Mesquita, Mark Blaxter","doi":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.24942.2","DOIUrl":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.24942.2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We present a genome assembly of <i>Thelazia callipaeda</i> (nematode; Nematoda; Chromadorea; Rhabditida; Thelaziidae). The genome sequence has a total length of 117.59 megabases. Most of the assembly (75.82%) is scaffolded into 4 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the X sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has been assembled, with a length of 13.66 kilobases.</p>","PeriodicalId":23677,"journal":{"name":"Wellcome Open Research","volume":"10 ","pages":"544"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13560547/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148956685","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Scalable, open-access and multidisciplinary data integration pipeline for climate-sensitive diseases.","authors":"Abhishek Dasgupta, Iago Perez-Fernandez, Tuyen Huynh, Cathal Mills, Rowan C Nicholls, Prathyush Sambaturu, Marc Choisy, David Wallom, Tung Nguyen-Duy, Rhys P D Inward, John-Stuart Brittain, Sarah Sparrow, Moritz U G Kraemer","doi":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.24774.3","DOIUrl":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.24774.3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Climate-sensitive infectious diseases pose an important challenge for human, animal and environmental health and it has been estimated that over half of known human pathogenic diseases can be aggravated by climate change. While climatic and weather conditions are important drivers of transmission of vector-borne diseases, socio-economic, behavioural, and land-use factors as well as the interactions among them impact transmission dynamics. Analysis of drivers of climate-sensitive diseases require rapid integration of interdisciplinary data to be jointly analysed with epidemiological (including genomic and clinical) data. Current tools for the integration of multiple data sources are often limited to one data type or rely on proprietary data and software. To address this gap, we develop a scalable and open-access pipeline for the integration of multiple spatio-temporal datasets that requires only the declaration of the country and temporal range and resolution of the study. The tool is locally deployable and can easily be integrated into existing climate-disease-modelling applications. We demonstrate the utility of the tool for dengue modelling in Vietnam where epidemiological data are legally required to remain local. We include a pipeline for bias correction of climate data to enhance their quality for downstream modelling tasks. The Dengue Advanced Readiness Tools-Pipeline empowers users by simplifying complex download, correction, and aggregation steps, fostering data-driven discovery of relationships between infectious diseases and their drivers in space and time, and enhancing reproducibility in research. Additional modules and datasets can be added to the existing ones to make the pipeline extendable to use cases other than the ones presented here.</p>","PeriodicalId":23677,"journal":{"name":"Wellcome Open Research","volume":"10 ","pages":"467"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12648037/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145640402","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The chromosomal genome sequence of the lesser starlet coral, <i>Siderastrea radians</i> (Pallas, 1766) (Scleractinia: Rhizangiidae) and its associated microbial metagenome sequences.","authors":"Camile Avelino, Richard Karp, Andrew Baker, Sebastian Metz, Michael Sweet, Graeme Oatley, Elizabeth Sinclair, Eerik Aunin, Noah Gettle, Camilla Santos, Michael Paulini, Haoyu Niu, Victoria McKenna, Rebecca O'Brien","doi":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.27286.1","DOIUrl":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.27286.1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We present a genome assembly from a specimen of <i>Siderastrea radians</i> (lesser starlet coral; Cnidaria; Anthozoa; Scleractinia; Rhizangiidae). The genome sequence has a total length of 807.19 megabases. Most of the assembly (94.17%) is scaffolded into 14 chromosomal pseudomolecules. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled, with a length of 19.38 kilobases. Gene annotation of this assembly by Ensembl identified 47 051 protein-coding genes. From the metagenome data, we recovered two binned metagenomes assigned to the bacterial phylum Bacteroidota and class Bacteroidia.</p>","PeriodicalId":23677,"journal":{"name":"Wellcome Open Research","volume":"11 ","pages":"493"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13560801/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148956647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The genome sequence of <i>Hypericum pulchrum</i> L., 1753 (Malpighiales: Hypericaceae).","authors":"Raj Whitlock, Robert Nl Fitt","doi":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.27278.1","DOIUrl":"10.12688/wellcomeopenres.27278.1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We present a genome assembly of <i>Hypericum pulchrum</i> (slender St John's-wort; Streptophyta; Magnoliopsida; Malpighiales; Hypericaceae). The assembly consists of two haplotypes with total lengths of 373.14 megabases and 367.88 megabases. Most of haplotype 1 (94.8%) is scaffolded into 9 chromosomal pseudomolecules. Haplotype 2 was assembled to scaffold level. The mitochondrial sequences have lengths of 217.84 and 276.52 kilobases and the plastid genome assembly has a length of 149.16 kilobases. Gene annotation of this assembly on Ensembl identified 29 497 protein-coding genes. This assembly was generated as part of the Darwin Tree of Life project, which produces reference genomes for eukaryotic species found in Britain and Ireland.</p>","PeriodicalId":23677,"journal":{"name":"Wellcome Open Research","volume":"11 ","pages":"486"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13583358/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149002768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}