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The limitations of conventional urine culture methods can be avoided by using culture-independent approaches like polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and next-generation sequencing (NGS). However, the efficacy of these approaches in this setting is still subject to contention. PRISMA-compliant searches were performed on MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Sciences, and the Cochrane Database until March 2023. The included articles compared PCR or NGS to conventional urine culture for the detection of urinary tract infections (UTIs). RevMan performed meta-analysis, and the Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool assessed study quality. A total of 10 selected studies that involved 1,291 individuals were included in this meta-analysis. The study found that PCR has a 99% sensitivity and a 94% specificity for diagnosing UTIs. Furthermore, NGS was shown to have a sensitivity of 90% for identifying UTIs and a specificity of 86%. The odds ratio (OR) for PCR to detect Gram-positive bacteria is 0.50 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.41–0.61), while the OR for NGS to detect Gram-negative bacteria is 0.23 [95% CI 0.09–0.59]. UTIs are typically caused by Gram-negative bacteria like Escherichia coli and Gram-positive bacteria like Staphylococci and Streptococci. PCR and NGS are reliable, culture-free molecular diagnostic methods that, despite being expensive, are essential for UTI diagnosis and prevention due to their high sensitivity and specificity.

Simple Summary: Nemognathinae is notable for its high diversity in Meloidae, yet our knowledge about its species in China remains restricted. Here, we describe a new genus and species and report three other species as new additions to the Chinese fauna. Based on our investigation of the types, we transfer the genus Oreomeloe from Meloini to Nemognathini. Finally, we present molecular phylogenies built on multi-locus data, which corroborate the systematic placement of Sinostenoria and Longizonitis. Our findings and treatment contribute to the understanding of Chinese Nemognathinae and resolve a pending issue in the taxonomy of Nemognathinae. Despite being the most widespread blister beetle subfamily, Nemognathinae is unfairly understudied in China. In this study, a new genus and species, Sinostenoria yangi Pan, from northern China is described and illustrated. The antennae, elytra, hind wings, and claws of the new genus form a truly unique set of characteristics never observed in other genera of Nemognathini Laporte de Castelnau, 1840. Three species from China are newly recorded and illustrated: Megatrachelus sibiricus (Tauscher, 1812), Zonitomorpha dollei (Fairmaire 1889), and Stenodera djakonovi Aksentjev, 1978. The genus Oreomeloe Tan, 1981, is transferred from the tribe Meloini Gyllenhal, 1910, to Nemognathini based on an examination of the types. Aiming to test the morphology-based placement of the new genus, we conducted molecular phylogenetic analyses using two mitochondrial (COI, 16S) and three nuclear markers (28S, CAD, ITS2). The results confirm our tribal assignment of the new genus and support a clade that consists of Sinostenoriagen. n., Longizonitis Pan and Bologna, 2018, Stenoria cf. grandiceps, and Ctenopus cf. persicus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Asia–Pacific countries are highly diverse in health and economic conditions that may impact vaccine access and uptake. Our study aimed to characterize patterns of health access to DTP-based combination vaccines in 10 countries from 2019 to 2022 using the IQVIA-MIDAS database. The availability, affordability, and accessibility were compared across countries by national health and economic performance indicators using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Our findings showed that the three aspects of access to DTP-based vaccines varied substantially in the Asia–Pacific region, with higher levels in countries with better health and economic performance. Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine accessibility fluctuates significantly in lower-income countries, with DTP coverage rates falling by more than 14% in the Philippines and Indonesia between 2019 and 2021. For availability and affordability, Singapore and Malaysia from high-income groups were largely affected, which may be related to health expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product (Coefficient = 0.39, p = 0.03). Our study indicates that greater attention needs to be paid to national health expenditure and routine immunization services to improve vaccine disparities and increase the robustness and resilience of the vaccine supply chain during public health emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]