Clinical intelligence & editorial.

PLOS

Calculation and application of the selenium toxicity coefficient for potential ecological risk assessment

To address the lack of a unified quantitative index for the ecological risk assessment of selenium (Se) in soils, the toxicity coefficient of Se was first determined based on Håkanson’s principles, and the spatial distribution and potential ecological risk of Se in surface soils across China were systematically evaluated. The results showed that the toxicity coefficient of Se was determined as 2. Based on the corrected background reference value, approximately 69.9% of the sampling sites were cl...

Selenium

Xintian Wen, Yanjin Huang• October 14, 2026

PLOS

Associations of childhood body composition trajectories and adolescent body dissatisfaction: Longitudinal evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study

Body dissatisfaction is common, particularly among those with higher BMIs. Issues with BMI as an adiposity measure may limit our understanding of how body weight is associated with body dissatisfaction, particularly given gendered body ideals. We investigated the association of childhood trajectories of BMI, fat mass index (FMI), and fat-free mass index (FFMI) with body dissatisfaction at age 14, and sex differences in these associations. This was a secondary analysis of UK Millennium Cohort Stu...

Body Composition

Madelaine Davies Kellock, Francesca Solmi, Anne McMunn, Yvonne Kelly• October 14, 2026

PLOS

Disrupted fear regulation in insomnia disorder revealed by arousal estimation from skin conductance

Insomnia disorder (ID) is a common sleep-wake disorder marked by persistent dissatisfaction with sleep quality or quantity. Previous studies have shown that sleep plays a critical role in emotion regulation, particularly in fear extinction. This study aims to characterize ID using estimates of the sympathetic arousal state derived from skin conductance (SC)-based observations, and to compare two observation models: the marked point process (MPP) model and the MPP coupled with continuous (MPP+Con...

Insomnia

Tianyu Hwang, Saman Khazaei, Edward F. Pace-Schott, Ryan Bottary, Rose T. Faghih• October 14, 2026

PLOS

Low diet quality increases the genetic risk of high blood cholesterol levels in Asian Indian adults [CURES – 165]

Background: Asian Indians face an increased burden of cardiometabolic diseases, yet the interplay between genetic predisposition and diet quality in this population remains underexplored. This study aimed to examine their interaction on cardiometabolic traits in this population. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 1,020 adults (452 men, 568 women; aged 25–80 years) from the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (CURES). A genetic risk score (GRS) of three variants: TCF7L2 rs7903...

Cholesterol

Manahil M. Bineid, Dhanasekaran Bodhini, Kandaswamy Ramya, Coimbatore Subramanian Shanthi Rani, Rajendra Pradeepa, Ranjit Mohan Anjana, Venkatesan Radha, Viswanathan Mohan, Karani Santhanakrishnan Vimaleswaran• October 14, 2026

PLOS

Quantitative analysis of China’s selenium-enriched policy texts: Based on a three-dimensional framework of “theme–instrument–effectiveness”

Selenium, as an essential trace element for human health, plays a critical role in antioxidant defense, immune regulation, and disease prevention. With approximately 72% of China’s soil area being selenium-deficient, developing the selenium-enriched industry has become a strategic priority for local governments under the “Healthy China” and Rural Revitalization initiatives. While existing research has extensively explored selenium’s scientific mechanisms and industrial development pathways, a cr...

Selenium

Pengfei Xu, Xiongchao Xu, Qing Wang, Wenrong Ye, Jianli Luo• October 13, 2026

PLOS

Structure-based discovery of a novel Granzyme A (GZMA) inhibitor for autism spectrum disorder through integrative transcriptomics, virtual screening, and long-timescale molecular dynamics simulations

Granzyme A (GZMA) is a trypsin-like serine protease expressed in cytotoxic lymphocytes that cleaves gasdermin B (GSDMB) to release a pore-forming N-terminal fragment, thereby inducing pyroptosis, a lytic and pro-inflammatory form of programmed cell death. This pathway has been implicated in immune dysregulation reported in a subset of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this study, we reanalyzed the peripheral blood transcriptome dataset GSE26415 using an integrative computationa...

Autism

Metab Alharbi, Abdulrahman Alshammari, Othman Al Shabanah, Mohammed Mufadhe Alanazi, Ahmed Altuwaijri, Abdullah F. Alasmari, Talal Alshammari• October 13, 2026

PLOS

Adult-sourced fecal microbiota transplantation ameliorates early-life antibiotic-induced intestinal immune stress in juvenile mice associated with the modulation of the TLR4/MyD88 signaling pathway

Early-life antibiotic (ABX) exposure profoundly disrupts gut microbiota assembly, triggering long-lasting intestinal immune stress. While fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a promising intervention, its immunological and ecological mechanisms in the juvenile gut remain underexplored. In this study, juvenile mice were subjected to a broad-spectrum ABX cocktail for 8 days followed by 4 days of adult-sourced FMT. 16S rRNA sequencing (n = 6/group) revealed that ABX drastically altered the mic...

Antibiotic

Xiang Qian, Yanjing Shen, Xianzhong Luo, Siqin Zhang, Li Wang, Hualin He, Bin Wang• October 13, 2026

PLOS

A longitudinal analysis of real world symptom tracking and patient-reported outcomes in Brisa, a German Digital Health App for multiple sclerosis

Brisa, a companion app designed for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, can support the patient journey by collecting longitudinal real-world data. This study aimed to characterize the demographic and clinical profile of Brisa users and longitudinal trends in app engagement, self-reported symptoms and patient-reported outcomes (PROs). This retrospective analysis included Brisa users aged ≥18 years, reported use of category 1 (low), 2 (medium), or 3 (high efficacy) disease-modifying therapy (DMT) a...

Multiple Sclerosis

Ann-Sophie Stratil, Steffeni Papukchieva, Julia Steinmetz-Späh, Natalie Joschko, Lars Masanneck, Benjamin Friedrich, Tjalf Ziemssen• October 13, 2026

PLOS

Single-cell transcriptomics and machine learning characterize LTA4H-linked lipid metabolism and inflammatory signatures in the knee osteoarthritis IPFP/synovium compartment

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a whole-joint disease characterized by inflammation, immune dysregulation, and metabolic imbalance. To define lipid metabolism-related transcriptional heterogeneity within the infrapatellar fat pad (IPFP)/synovium compartment, we integrated publicly available single-cell transcriptomic data from IPFP/synovium-derived joint cells with bulk synovial transcriptomic datasets from patients with KOA and controls. Lipid metabolism-related scores were derived using multiple...

Osteoarthritis

Xin Chen, Shudong Li, Xiaole Wang, Wanyang Chen, Shangfeng Qi, Jifeng Zhao• October 12, 2026

PLOS

Barriers and enablers shaping kidney transplant care delivery: Insights from Iraqi pharmacists

Background: Kidney transplant care in low-resource countries is often affected by multiple factors, including workforce constraints, fragmented communication, and medication access challenges. Given pharmacists’ involvement in medication management and regular patient follow-up, this study was designed to explore transplant care delivery in Iraq from pharmacists’ perspectives. Method: Qualitative data were collected using face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with all eligible pharmacists fro...

Pharmacist

Sarah M. Faisal, Samer Imad Mohammed• October 12, 2026

PLOS

Does perturbed adaptive myelination contribute to cognitive dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease?

The consequences of oligodendrocyte involvement in Alzheimer’s disease are poorly understood. Could a key role of gray-matter oligodendrocytes—activity-dependent adaptive myelination to sustain changes in activity—be perturbed, leading to cognitive loss? The consequences of oligodendrocyte involvement in Alzheimer’s disease are poorly understood. This Perspective suggests that activity-dependent adaptive myelination, a key role of grey-matter oligodendrocytes, could be perturbed, leading to cog...

Alzheimer’S Disease

Charles ffrench-Constant• October 12, 2026

PLOS

Vaccination accelerates the race of influenza virus against collective immunity

Respiratory viruses persist in a population, because their rapid evolution allows them to escape recognition by antibodies in previously-infected individuals. To optimize parameters of an effective vaccine, an epidemiological model of a population infected with an evolving virus is coupled to a model of multi-locus evolution. Model parameters are informed from influenza virus data. The cases of overlapping and non-overlapping effect of consecutive vaccinations are considered. The results predict...

Vaccines And Immunization

Igor M. Rouzine• October 12, 2026