Preprints

Filtering by Subject: Medicine and Health Sciences

Antechodynamics and Antechokinetics: Dynamics and Kinetics of Antibiotic Resistance Molecules

Fernando Baquero, Rafael Cantón, Ana Elena Pérez-Cobas, et al.

Published: 2024-12-16
Subjects: Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences

Pharmacology of antimicrobial drugs comprises pharmacodynamics (PD) and pharmacokinetics (PK). PD refers to studying drugs' mode of action at different concentrations on their molecular targets and the resulting effect(s). PK refers to studying the way(s) by which drugs enter and are distributed to reach their targets in different compartments (such as tissues in the body) and how the local drug [...]

Greenspaces reduce the heat-related mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Muhammad Mainuddin Patwary, Imran Chowdhury Sakib, Md Ismay Azam Badhon, et al.

Published: 2024-12-11
Subjects: Medicine and Health Sciences

Greenspace has been increasingly recognized for its role in mitigating heat-related mortality in the context of climate change. This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized evidence from 43 studies covering over 160 million deaths. Using a random-effects meta-analysis, we found that high-greenness areas were associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality during heat (≥90th [...]

One Earth + One Health: An agile, evolutionary, system-of-systems, convergence paradigm for societal challenges of the Anthropocene

John Charles Little, Roope Kaaronen, Michael Muthukrishna, et al.

Published: 2024-12-06
Subjects: Education, Engineering, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences

Evolutionary mechanisms enabled humans to profoundly transform Earth systems. Because the resulting Anthropocene systems are highly interdependent and dynamically evolving, often with accelerating rates of cultural and technological evolution, the ensuing family of societal challenges must be framed and addressed in a holistic fashion. An agile, evolutionary, system-of-systems, convergence [...]

Wildfire exposure and health outcomes: An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Muhammad Mainuddin Patwary, Mondira Bardhan, Marvina Rahman Ritu, et al.

Published: 2024-10-08
Subjects: Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences

Introduction: Wildfires are a growing concern due to their significant impact on wildlife, air quality, and health, and are increasing under climate change. Although several systematic reviews have explored the relationship between wildfire smoke and human health outcomes, a comprehensive overview of the overall epidemiological evidence remains needed. Thus, this umbrella review aimed to [...]

Short-sighted evolution of virulence for invasive gut microbes: from hypothesis to tests.

Pauline Deirdre Scanlan, Fernando Baquero, Bruce R Levin

Published: 2024-07-25
Subjects: Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences

Why microbes harm their hosts is a fundamental question in evolutionary biology with broad relevance to our understanding of infectious diseases. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain this "evolution of virulence." In this perspective, we re-examine one of these hypotheses in the specific context of the human gut microbiome, namely short-sighted evolution. According to the [...]

Supporting study registration to reduce research waste

Marija Purgar, Paul Glasziou, Tin Klanjscek, et al.

Published: 2024-06-04
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Psychology, Social and Behavioral Sciences

Research suffers from many inefficiencies. These lead to much research being avoidably wasted, with no or limited value to the end user (e.g. an estimated 82-89% of ecological research, and 85% of medical research). Here, we argue that the quality and impact of ecological research could be drastically improved by registration: pre-registration, and registered reports. However, without a [...]

A research synthesis of humans, animals, and environmental compartments exposed to PFAS: A systematic evidence map and bibliometric analysis of secondary literature

Lorenzo Ricolfi, Catharina Vendl, Jennifer Bräunig, et al.

Published: 2024-04-25
Subjects: Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences

Background Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of widely used anthropogenic chemicals. Concerns regarding their persistence and potential adverse effects have led to multiple secondary research publications. Here, we aim to assess the resulting evidence base in the systematic secondary literature by examining research gaps, evaluating the quality of reviews, and exploring [...]

Selection versus Transmission: Quantitative and Organismic Biology in Antibiotic Resistance

Fernando Baquero, Ana Elena Pérez-Cobas, Sonia Aracil-Gisbert, et al.

Published: 2024-02-01
Subjects: Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences

We aimed to determine the importance of selection (mostly dependent on the anthropogenic use of antimicrobials) and transmission (mostly dependent on hygiene and sanitation) as drivers of the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacterial populations. The first obstacle to estimating the relative weight of both independent variables is the lack of detailed quantitative data concerning the number of [...]

Bacterial stress in the gut environment might increase the fitness cost associated with antibiotic resistance mechanisms: on the way to biorestoration of susceptible populations

Fernando Baquero, Jeronimo Rodríguez-Beltrán, Teresa M Coque, et al.

Published: 2023-11-28
Subjects: Medicine and Health Sciences

The acquisition and expression of antibiotic resistance implies changes in bacterial cell physiology, imposing fitness costs. Many human opportunistic pathogenic bacteria, such as those causing urinary tract or bloodstream infections, colonize the gut. In this review, we will examine the various types of stress that these bacteria might suffer during their intestinal stay. These stresses, and [...]

Bacteriostatic cells instead of bacteriostatic antibiotics?

Fernando Baquero, Jeronimo Rodríguez-Beltrán, Bruce R Levin

Published: 2023-10-03
Subjects: Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences

This year we commemorate the centennial of the birth of the mature concept of bacteriostasis by John W. Churchman at Cornell University Medical School. The term bacteriostasis has primarily been applied to antibiotics (bacteriostatic antibiotics). In this Opinion paper, we are revisiting this concept by suggesting that bacteriostatic antibiotics are drugs that induce bacteria to become [...]

Robust point and variance estimation for ecological and evolutionary meta-analyses with selective reporting and dependent effect sizes

Yefeng Yang, Malgorzata Lagisz, Coralie Williams, et al.

Published: 2023-10-03
Subjects: Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Statistics and Probability

Meta-analysis produces a quantitative synthesis of evidence-based knowledge, shaping not only research trends but also policy and practices in ecology and evolution. However, two statistical issues, selective reporting and statistical dependence, can severally distort meta-analytic evidence. Here, we propose a two-step procedure to tackle these challenges concurrently and re-analyse 448 [...]

Bacterial Subcellular Architecture, Structural Epistasis, and Antibiotic Resistance

Fernando Baquero, Jose-Luis Martínez, Alvaro Sanchez, et al.

Published: 2023-03-21
Subjects: Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences

Epistasis refers to how genetic interactions between some genetic loci affect phenotypes and fitness. In this study, we propose the concept “structural epistasis” to emphasize the role of the variable physical interactions between molecules located at particular spaces inside the bacterial cell in the emergence of novel phenotypes. The architecture of the bacterial cell (typically a [...]

Nature exposure and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A Navigation Guide systematic review with meta-analysis

Muhammad Mainuddin Patwary, Mondira Bardhan, Asma Safia Disha, et al.

Published: 2023-02-17
Subjects: Medicine and Health Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences

Previous reviews concluded that nature contact was an important coping strategy against poor mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the quality of evidence in these reviews was not sufficiently documented in terms of the risk of bias in reviewed studies. We attempted to fill this gap with a Navigation Guide systematic review and meta-analyses on the associations between nature [...]

More Than Half of Statistically Significant Research Findings in the Environmental Sciences are Actually Not

Teshome Deressa, David Stern, Jaco Vangronsveld, et al.

Published: 2023-01-25
Subjects: Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences

Researchers have incentives to search for and selectively report findings that appear to be statistically significant and/or conform to prior beliefs. Such selective reporting practices, including p-hacking and publication bias, can lead to a distorted set of results being published, potentially undermining the process of knowledge accumulation and evidence-based decision making. We take stock of [...]

Psychological and Cultural Factors Influencing Antibiotic Prescription

Francisco Dionisio, Fernando Baquero, Marina Fuertes

Published: 2023-01-20
Subjects: Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Microbiology, Psychiatry and Psychology

Humans have been giving a selective advantage to antibiotic-resistant bacteria worldwide by inundating the environment with antimicrobials for about one century. As a result, the efficacy of antibiotics has been impaired. Antibiotic resistance is a public health problem, responsible for increases in mortality and extended stays at hospitals. Hospitals and other clinical settings have implemented [...]

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