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| Open AccessMarket integration reduces kin density in women’s ego-networks in rural Poland
Market integration may loosen the dense kinship networks maintaining high fertility among agriculturalists, but data are lacking. Here, Colleran shows that in 22 rural Polish communities, women’s ego networks are less kin-oriented, but not less dense, as market integration increases, potentially enabling low fertility values to spread.
- Heidi Colleran
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Perspective
| Open AccessThe role of artificial intelligence in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more and more common in people’s lives. Here, the authors use an expert elicitation method to understand how AI may affect the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Ricardo Vinuesa
- , Hossein Azizpour
- & Francesco Fuso Nerini
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Article
| Open AccessAntimicrobial resistant enteric bacteria are widely distributed amongst people, animals and the environment in Tanzania
Spread of antimicrobial-resistant (AR) bacteria is a global concern, but contributing factors remain unclear. Here, authors analyze distribution of AR bacteria in households from three ethnic groups in Tanzania and find that livelihood factors are more strongly associated with AR prevalence than antibiotic use.
- Murugan Subbiah
- , Mark A. Caudell
- & Douglas R. Call
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Article
| Open AccessPredicting optical coherence tomography-derived diabetic macular edema grades from fundus photographs using deep learning
Diabetic eye disease is a cause of preventable blindness and accurate and timely referral of patients with diabetic macular edema is important to start treatment. Here the authors present a deep learning model that can predict the presence of diabetic macular edema from color fundus photographs with superior specificity and positive predictive value compared to retinal specialists.
- Avinash V. Varadarajan
- , Pinal Bavishi
- & Dale R. Webster
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Article
| Open AccessHigh-resolution micro-epidemiology of parasite spatial and temporal dynamics in a high malaria transmission setting in Kenya
Here, Nelson et al. use amplicon next-generation sequencing of two P. falciparum polymorphic gene regions to investigate the genetic similarity of parasite populations across time and space in a pediatric cohort in Kenya. They identify both micro- and macro-scale structuring of malaria parasites in this high-transmission setting, which could inform future intervention strategies.
- Cody S. Nelson
- , Kelsey M. Sumner
- & Wendy P. O’Meara
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Article
| Open AccessAn African Salmonella Typhimurium ST313 sublineage with extensive drug-resistance and signatures of host adaptation
Invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella (iNTS) infections are dominated by antibiotic resistant isolates of the sequence type (ST) 313. Here, the authors identify the ST313 sublineage II.1 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo exhibiting extensive drug resistance and genetic signatures potentially associated with host adaptation.
- Sandra Van Puyvelde
- , Derek Pickard
- & Stijn Deborggraeve
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Article
| Open AccessHorse immunization with short-chain consensus α-neurotoxin generates antibodies against broad spectrum of elapid venomous species
Antivenoms, obtained by venom immunization, have narrow species coverage due to low immunogenicity of venom neurotoxins. Here the authors immunize horses with a designed recombinant consensus neurotoxin, and the resulting antisera protect mice from envenomation by a broad spectrum of elapid snakes.
- Guillermo de la Rosa
- , Felipe Olvera
- & Gerardo Corzo
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Article
| Open AccessImpacts of air pollutants from rural Chinese households under the rapid residential energy transition
Residential solid fuel use constitutes a large amount of air pollution but has been gradually replaced by other cleaner energy during the past three decades. Here the authors investigated the contribution of rural residential sector to ambient PM2.5 pollution and the resulting climate forcing and health impacts, and find that the remaining large quantities of solid fuels used in rural households are still a major contributor to ambient air pollution despite of decrease in its pollutant emissions and relative contribution to PM2.5 due to the clean energy transition.
- Guofeng Shen
- , Muye Ru
- & Shu Tao
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Article
| Open AccessZRANB3 is an African-specific type 2 diabetes locus associated with beta-cell mass and insulin response
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is prevalent in populations worldwide, however, mostly studied in European and mixed-ancestry populations. Here, the authors perform a genome-wide association study for T2D in over 5,000 sub-Saharan Africans and identify a locus, ZRANB3, that is specific for this population.
- Adebowale A. Adeyemo
- , Norann A. Zaghloul
- & Charles N. Rotimi
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Article
| Open AccessThe economics of malaria control in an age of declining aid
Foreign aid is necessary to control tropical diseases in endemic countries. Here the authors outline the steps taken to control malaria in Africa since 2000 and present an economic model to propose that US$25−30 per capita will be needed to avoid a disease trap.
- Eric Maskin
- , Célestin Monga
- & Jean-Claude Berthélemy
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Article
| Open AccessModern slavery and the race to fish
There have been growing concerns about the exploitation of workers in the fisheries sectors. Here, Tickler et al. use a country-level metric of slavery to determine the risk of fisheries-level slavery across 20 countries, and find it rises as unreported catch increases and mean value of catch decreases.
- David Tickler
- , Jessica J. Meeuwig
- & Dirk Zeller
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Article
| Open AccessSubstantiating freedom from parasitic infection by combining transmission model predictions with disease surveys
The decision when to stop an intervention is a critical component of parasite elimination programmes, but reliance on surveillance data alone can be inaccurate. Here, Michael et al. combine parasite transmission model predictions with disease survey data to more reliably determine when interventions can be stopped.
- Edwin Michael
- , Morgan E. Smith
- & Frank O. Richards
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Article
| Open AccessCarbon losses from deforestation and widespread degradation offset by extensive growth in African woodlands
Degradation—the loss of carbon stored in intact woodland—is very difficult to measure over large areas. Here, the authors show that carbon emissions from degradation in African woodlands greatly exceed those from deforestation, but are happening alongside widespread increases in biomass in remote areas.
- Iain M. McNicol
- , Casey M. Ryan
- & Edward T. A. Mitchard
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Article
| Open AccessThe rise of South–South trade and its effect on global CO2 emissions
The rapid growth of South–South trade reflects a new phase of globalization. Here the authors show that some energy-intensive production activities, particularly raw materials and intermediate goods, and related CO2 emissions are relocating from China and India to other developing countries.
- Jing Meng
- , Zhifu Mi
- & Steven J. Davis
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Article
| Open AccessPatterns of island change and persistence offer alternate adaptation pathways for atoll nations
Inundation and erosion could make many atoll islands uninhabitable over the next century. Here the authors present an analysis of change in the atoll nation of Tuvalu that shows a 2.9% increase in land area over the past four decades, with 74% of islands increasing in size, despite rising sea levels.
- Paul S. Kench
- , Murray R. Ford
- & Susan D. Owen
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Article
| Open AccessMultinational patterns of seasonal asymmetry in human movement influence infectious disease dynamics
Fine scale mobile phone data is improving capacity to understand seasonal patterns in human movement. Here, the authors use multi-year movement data across three nations, as well as a model of pathogen spread, to understand the consequences of seasonal travel for disease dynamics.
- Amy Wesolowski
- , Elisabeth zu Erbach-Schoenberg
- & C. J. E. Metcalf