Epidemiology

Systematic evaluation of multifactorial causal associations for Alzheimer’s disease and an interactive platform MRAD developed based on Mendelian randomization analysis

1. Tianyu Zhao
2. Hui Li
3. Meishuang Zhang
4. Yang Xu
5. Ming Zhang
6. Li Chen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study introduces the MRAD database, an advancement in Alzheimer's disease research that provides a powerful tool for evaluating risk and protective factors through Mendelian randomization analysis. The evidence supporting the database's utility is solid, with findings backed by robust data, though addressing methodological concerns and ensuring more rigorous validation of associations would further strengthen its impact. This resource represents a significant leap forward in the field, offering unprecedented opportunities for researchers and clinicians to uncover key insights into Alzheimer's etiology, potentially revolutionizing how Alzheimer's research is approached and accelerating the discovery of new prevention strategies and treatments.

Reviewed by eLife

Estimating the potential impact of surveillance test-and-treat posts to reduce malaria in border regions in sub-Saharan Africa: a modelling study

1. Hillary M. Topazian
2. Giovanni D. Charles
3. Nora Schmit
4. Matteo Pianella
5. John M. Marshall
6. Immo Kleinschmidt
7. Katharina Hauck
8. Azra C. Ghani

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

Forecasting the spatial spread of an Ebola epidemic in real-time: comparing predictions of mathematical models and experts

1. James D Munday
2. Alicia Rosello
3. W John Edmunds
4. Sebastian Funk

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript provides valuable evidence comparing the performance of mathematical models and opinions from experts engaged in outbreak response in forecasting the spatial spread of an Ebola epidemic. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing though the work might have benefited from the use of more than two models in the ensemble predictions. It will be of interest to disease modellers, infectious disease epidemiologists, policy-makers, and those who need to inform policy-makers during an outbreak.

Reviewed by eLife

Risk of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Following Hospitalisation with Infectious Mononucleosis: A Danish Nationwide Cohort Study (1977-2021)

1. Anthony Ebert
2. Shania Harper
3. Marie V. Vestergaard
4. Wayne Mitchell
5. Tine Jess
6. Rahma Elmahdi

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

Antigenic drift and subtype interference shape A(H3N2) epidemic dynamics in the United States

1. Amanda C Perofsky
2. John Huddleston
3. Chelsea L Hansen
4. John R Barnes
5. Thomas Rowe
6. Xiyan Xu
7. Rebecca Kondor
8. David E Wentworth
9. Nicola Lewis
10. Lynne Whittaker
11. Burcu Ermetal
12. Ruth Harvey
13. Monica Galiano
14. Rodney Stuart Daniels
15. John W McCauley
16. Seiichiro Fujisaki
17. Kazuya Nakamura
18. Noriko Kishida
19. Shinji Watanabe
20. Hideki Hasegawa
21. Sheena G Sullivan
22. Ian G Barr
23. Kanta Subbarao
24. Florian Krammer
25. Trevor Bedford
26. Cécile Viboud

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This paper explores the relationships among evolutionary and epidemiological quantities in influenza, and presents fundamental findings that substantially advance our understanding of the drivers of influenza epidemics. The authors use a rich set of data sources to gather and analyze compelling evidence on the roles of genetic distance, other influenza dynamics and epidemiological indicators in predicting influenza epidemics. The central findings highlight the significant influence of genetic distance on A(H3N2) virus epidemiology and emphasize the role of A(H1N1) virus incidence in shaping A(H3N2) epidemics, suggesting subtype interference as a key factor. This paper also makes relevant data available to the research community.

Reviewed by eLife

Disentangling the relationship between cancer mortality and COVID-19 in the US

1. Chelsea L Hansen
2. Cécile Viboud
3. Lone Simonsen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This valuable work explores death coding data to understand the impact of COVID-19 on cancer mortality. The work provides solid evidence that deaths with cancer as a contributing cause were not above what would be expected during pandemic waves, suggesting that cancer did not strongly increase the risk of dying of COVID-19. These results are an interesting exploration into the coding of causes of death that can be used to make sense of how deaths are coded during a pandemic in the presence of other underlying diseases, such as cancer.

Reviewed by eLife

SARS-CoV-2 correlates of protection from infection against variants of concern

1. Kaiyuan Sun
2. Jinal N. Bhiman
3. Stefano Tempia
4. Jackie Kleynhans
5. Vimbai Sharon Madzorera
6. Qiniso Mkhize
7. Haajira Kaldine
8. Meredith L. McMorrow
9. Nicole Wolter
10. Jocelyn Moyes
11. Maimuna Carrim
12. Neil A. Martinson
13. Kathleen Kahn
14. Limakatso Lebina
15. Jacques D. du Toit
16. Thulisa Mkhencele
17. Anne von Gottberg
18. Cécile Viboud
19. Penny L. Moore
20. Cheryl Cohen
21. PHIRST-C group
22. Amelia Buys
23. Maimuna Carrim
24. Linda de Gouveia
25. Mignon du Plessis
26. Jacques du Toit
27. Francesc Xavier Gómez-Olivé
28. Kgaugelo Patricia Kgasago
29. Retshidisitswe Kotane
30. Meredith L. McMorrow
31. Tumelo Moloantoa
32. Stephen Tollman
33. Anne von Gottberg
34. Floidy Wafawanaka
35. Nicole Wolter

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

Current Schistosoma mansoni exposure and infection have distinct determinants: a data-driven population-based study in rural Uganda

1. Fabian Reitzug
2. Narcis B. Kabatereine
3. Anatol M. Byaruhanga
4. Fred Besigye
5. Betty Nabatte
6. Goylette F. Chami

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

Hybrid immunity from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection and vaccination in Canadian adults: A cohort study

1. Patrick E Brown
2. Sze Hang Fu
3. Leslie Newcombe
4. Xuyang Tang
5. Nico Nagelkerke
6. H Chaim Birnboim
7. Aiyush Bansal
8. Karen Colwill
9. Geneviève Mailhot
10. Melanie Delgado-Brand
11. Tulunay Tursun
12. Freda Qi
13. Anne-Claude Gingras
14. Arthur S Slutsky
15. Maria D Pasic
16. Jeffrey Companion
17. Isaac I Bogoch
18. Ed Morawski
19. Teresa Lam
20. Angus Reid
21. Prabhat Jha
22. Ab-C Study Collaborators

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study assessed antibody levels, which are indicative of protection, resulting from both COVID-19 vaccination and natural infection in a representative sample of the Canadian population. The work provides solid evidence that Individuals who received a booster vaccination and had a prior infection had the highest antibody levels, particularly when either the vaccination or natural infection had occurred within the past six months. These findings are of fundamental importance in supporting the value of booster vaccination in populations vulnerable to severe COVID-19.

Reviewed by eLife

Estimating the reproduction number and transmission heterogeneity from the size distribution of clusters of identical pathogen sequences

1. Cécile Tran-Kiem
2. Trevor Bedford

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases