Clinical intelligence & editorial.

PLOS

Distribution of capsule and O types in Klebsiella pneumoniae causing neonatal sepsis in Africa and South Asia: A meta-analysis of genome-predicted serotype prevalence to inform potential vaccine coverage

Background: Klebsiella pneumoniae causes ~20% of sepsis in neonates, with ~40% crude mortality. A vaccine administered to pregnant women, protecting against ≥70% of K. pneumoniae infections, could avert ~400,000 cases and ~80,000 deaths annually, mostly in Africa and South Asia. Vaccine formulations targeting the capsular polysaccharide (K) or lipopolysaccharide (O) antigens are in development. Global K. pneumoniae populations display extensive K and O diversity, necessitating a polyvalent vacci...

Klebsiella Pneumonia

Thomas D. Stanton, Shaun P. Keegan, Jabir A. Abdulahi, Anne V. Amulele, Matthew Bates, Eva Heinz, Yogesh Hooda, Weiming Hu, Kajal Jain, Samiah Kanwar, Rindidzani Magobo, Courtney P. Olwagen, John M. Tembo, Tolbert Sonda, Jonathan Strysko, Caroline C. Tigoi, Sameen Ahmad Amin, Kyle Bittinger, Jennifer Cornick, Ebenezer Foster-Nyarko, Wilson Gumbi, Aneeta Hotwani, Naveed Iqbal, Steven M. Jones, Furqan Kabir, Waqasuddin Khan, Chileshe L. Musyani, Carolyn M. McGann, Varsha Mittal, Ahmed M. Moustafa, Patrick Musicha, James C.L. Mwansa, Moreka L. Ndumba, Erkison E. Odih, Donwilliams O. Omuoyo, Oliver Pearse, Laura T. Phillips, Paul J. Planet, Aniqa Abdul Rasool, Charlene M. C. Rodrigues, Kirsty Sands, Arif M. Tanmoy, Erin Theiller, Allan M. Zuza, Sulagna Basu, Grace J. Chan, Kenneth C. Iregbu, Jean-Baptiste Mazarati, Semaria Solomon Alemayehu, Timothy R. Walsh, Rabaab Zahra, Angela Dramowski, Sombo Fwoloshi, Appiah-Korang Labi, Lola Madrid, Noah Obeng-Nkrumah, David Ojok, Boaz D. Wadugu, Andrew C. Whitelaw, Adhisivam Bethou, Anudita Bhargava, Atul Jindal, Ruchi N. Nanavati, Priyanka S. Prasad, Apurba Sastry, Joveria Q. Farooqi, Najia Ghanchi, Fyezah Jehan, Erum Khan, Ramesh K. Agarwal, Alexander M. Aiken, James A. Berkley, Susan E. Coffin, Nicholas A. Feasey, Nelesh P. Govender, Davidson H. Hamer, Shabir A. Madhi, Muhammad Imran Nisar, Samir K. Saha, Senjuti Saha, Mari Jeeva Sankar, Kelly L. Wyres, Kathryn E. Holt• January 12, 2026

PLOS

Prevalence and factors associated with illicit substance use among persons with Schizophrenia at a Tertiary Referral Hospital in Zambia

Schizophrenia frequently involves comorbid substance use, exacerbating symptoms and reducing treatment efficacy yet no prior studies have examined this comorbidity locally. This study determined the prevalence and factors associated with illicit substance use among adults with schizophrenia at the Livingstone University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). A hospital-based single center cross-sectional study was conducted at LUTH from January to June 2023. A sample of 303 adults with schizophrenia were rec...

Schizophrenia

Kimberley R. Kurehwatira, Emmanuel L. Luwaya, Joreen P. Povia, Chileleko Siakabanze, Salma M. Baines, Emmanuel Yumba, Prince Mulambo, David N. Masta, Nestorine N. Ngongo, Natasha Chishala, Emmanuel O. Riwo, Katongo H. Mutengo, Hanzooma Hatwiko, Martin Chakulya, Lukundo Siame, Bislom C. Mweene, Sepiso K. Masenga• January 12, 2026

PLOS

Isothermal real-time RT-RPA for Machupo virus detection: Field-adaptable sensitivity comparable with laboratory PCR

Isothermal nucleic acid amplification methods, such as recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA), are becoming increasingly vital as diagnostic platforms for neglected tropical diseases by enabling rapid and accurate detection in under-resourced regions. We developed a real-time RT-RPA assay for Machupo virus (MACV), the causative agent of Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, and directly compared it to a real-time RT-PCR assay targeting the same viral sequence fragment. The methods were evaluated acros...

Pcr

Marina A. Kapitonova, Anna V. Shabalina, Igor S. Sukhikh, Artemiy A. Volkov, Vladimir G. Dedkov, Anna S. Dolgova• January 12, 2026

PLOS

Evaluation of cerebrovascular reactivity using transcranial Doppler in patients with influenza

Influenza is primarily a respiratory disease but can cause a broad spectrum of complications, including those affecting the cerebrovascular system. The aim of this study was to evaluate cerebrovascular reactivity in patients during and after influenza infection. A total of 92 participants, mean age 43 years, were enrolled; 46 patients with confirmed influenza infection and 46 healthy controls. Cerebrovascular reactivity was assessed using transcranial Doppler in combination with the breath-holdi...

Dopplers

Ana Orsolic Beslic, Kresimir Caljkusic, Antonela Matana, Katarina Tomelic Ercegovic, Mirela Pavicic Ivelja• January 12, 2026

PLOS

Complex relationship among vessel diameter, shear stress and blood pressure controlling vessel pruning during angiogenesis

Blood vessel pruning during angiogenesis is the optimization process of the branching pattern to improve the transport properties of a vascular network. Recent studies show that part of endothelial cells (ECs) subjected to lower shear stress migrate toward vessels with higher shear stress in opposition to the blood flow for vessel regression. While dynamic changes of blood flow and local mechano-stress could coordinately modulate EC migration for vessel regression within the closed circulatory s...

Blood Pressure

Vivek Kumar, Prashant Kumar, Takao Hikita, Mingqian Ding, Yukinori Kametani, Masanori Nakayama, Yosuke Hasegawa• January 12, 2026

PLOS

Myeloid Fmr1 deficiency in mice results in reduced serum cholesterol and altered bile pathway gene expression

Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is a genetic disorder caused by increased CGG repeats in the Fragile X Messenger Ribonucleoprotein 1 (FMR1) gene which encodes an RNA-binding protein that can alter mRNA processing, translation and stability. Among the effects of FMRP deficiency is the modulation of metabolic pathway gene expression resulting in reduced cholesterol. In this report, the role of Fmr1 in modulating serum cholesterol of mice fed Western diet was investigated. Fmr1-KO mice had reduced serum c...

Cholesterol

Xiaoning Zhao, Jianchang Zhou, Kuang-Yuh Chyu, Ebru Erbay, Bojan Cercek, Prediman K. Shah, Paul C. Dimayuga• January 12, 2026

PLOS

Community management: An effective model to reduce medication discontinuation rate in patients with schizophrenia

Background: Medication discontinuation is highly prevalent among patients with schizophrenia and is associated with poor clinical outcomes. Although community-based management models have been implemented in China to support patients, recent evidence of their effectiveness in reducing medication discontinuation rates remains limited. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we surveyed 1,531 patients with schizophrenia under community management in Chengdu, China, using a multi-stage sampling app...

Schizophrenia

Hua Ren, Qin Yang, Changjiu He, Jian Jiao, Zaiquan Dong• January 9, 2026

PLOS

Mechanisms of cellular senescence combined with molecular docking strategies: A biomarker study of potential therapeutic targets for allergic rhinitis

Objective: Bioinformatics and molecular docking methods were used to screen potential biomarkers of cellular senescence in allergic rhinitis (Allergic rhinitis AR), which provided a theoretical basis for revealing the mechanism of AR and exploring new therapeutic approaches. Methods: Four AR-related gene chips (GSE19187, GSE43523, GSE44037, and GSE51392) were downloaded from the gene expression database (GEO) for data pooling. Screening differential genes (DEGs) were taken to intersect with cell...

Allergic Rhinitis

Qingyong Chen, Han Zhang, Yue Wu, Jixin Liu, Dongqing Wang, Dezhong Sun, Zhipeng Chen, Liqiang Lin, Huaiqing Lv, Qiang Shao• January 9, 2026

PLOS

LIMPACAT: Multi-omics attention transformer for immune prediction in liver cancer using whole-slide imaging

Characterizing the tumor immune microenvironment from histopathological images offers opportunities for ex vivo immune profiling and prognostic assessment. However, the TCGA-LIHC dataset lacks direct immune cell composition data. Therefore, this study aims to introduce Liver Immune Microenvironment Prediction and Classification Attention Transformer (LIMPACAT), a deep learning framework that leverages whole-slide images (WSIs) to predict immune cell levels relevant to hepatocellular carcinoma (H...

Liver Cancer

Yen-Jung Chiu• January 9, 2026

PLOS

Delivering culturally adapted family interventions for people with schizophrenia in Indonesia: A feasibility randomised controlled trial and nested process evaluation

Schizophrenia is a severe and enduring illness with high relapse rates leading to functional impairment. Although family interventions effectively reduce relapse, most evidence originates from high-income settings. This single-masked feasibility trial randomised 74 service-user–carer dyads to receive either a culturally adapted family intervention or treatment as usual. The intervention was delivered by non-specialist healthcare workers through a task-shifting approach integrated into primary ca...

Schizophrenia

Laoise Renwick, Helen Brooks, Budi-anna Keliat, Dewi Wulandari, Rizqy Fadilah, Raphita Diorarta, Suherman, Georgia Addison, Penny Bee, Karina Lovell, Herni Susanti• January 8, 2026

PLOS

Retraction: Metformin attenuates osteoclast-mediated abnormal subchondral bone remodeling and alleviates osteoarthritis via AMPK/NF-κB/ERK signaling pathway

After this article [ 1 ] was published, concerns were raised about the results presented in Figs 3 and 7. Specifically, the following figure panels appear similar: Fig 3C RANKL 50 ng/mL + Met-0 μM day 3 panel of [ 1 ] and Fig 2A RANKL-50 ng/mL + DHA-5 μM panel of [ 2 ]; upon editorial follow-up, the second author stated that Fig 3C RANKL 50 ng/mL + Met-0 μM day 3 panel of [ 1 ] is incorrect. Fig 7A 4 weeks sham-operated panel* of [ 1 ] and Fig 7E left panel of [3, retracted in 4]; upon edi...

Osteoarthritis

The PLOS One Editors• January 8, 2026

PLOS

Retraction: Curcumin alleviates osteoarthritis in mice by suppressing osteoclastogenesis in subchondral bone via inhibiting NF-κB/JNK signaling pathway

After this article [ 1 ] was published, concerns were raised about Figs 3, 4, and 7. Specifically, the following figure panels appear similar: Fig 3D RANKL‑100 ng/ml CUR 10 μM day 3 panel of [1] and Fig 6A Sham+PBS panel of [2, retracted in 3]. Fig 4C RANKL-100 ng/ml CUR-0 μM panel and the central region of the Fig 4C RANKL-100 ng/ml CUR-10 μM panel when enlarged. Fig 7A 8 weeks OA+CUR panel* of [1] and Fig 7B 8 weeks DMM+Met panel of [4, retracted in 5]. Fig 7B 4 weeks OA+vehicle pa...

Osteoarthritis

The PLOS One Editors• January 8, 2026