The WHO today published its Multi-country outbreak of mpox External situation report #57.
The World Health Organization (WHO) stated on August 28, 2025, that all monkeypox virus (MPXV) clades continue to circulate in several countries. When mpox outbreaks are not rapidly contained and human-to-human transmission is not interrupted, they continue to pose a risk of sustained community transmission.
In July 2025, 47 countries in five (out of six) WHO regions reported a total of 3,924 confirmed cases, including 30 deaths (case fatality ratio 0.8%).
The South-East Asian and Western Pacific regions reported an increase in cases in July 2025, while the African Region, European Region, and the Region of the Americas reported a decrease.
To alert international travelers to this serious health risk, the WHO Director-General has extended the standing recommendations for mpox issued to States Parties until August 20, 2026, to prevent further spread or reduce the international spread of mpox, as well as its impact on health.
The WHO and the U.S. CDC recommend mpox vaccination for those with the highest risk profile.
Aug 28 – The U.S. Open kicks off its third round on Friday, with defending champion Aryna Sabalenka looking to avenge an old loss to Leylah Fernandez, while Novak Djokovic and Emma Raducanu bid to strengthen their title bids.
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TOP WOMEN’S MATCH: ARYNA SABALENKA V LEYLAH FERNANDEZ
Aryna Sabalenka looked favourite to win her maiden Grand Slam at the U.S. Open in 2021 after top seed Ashleigh Barty suffered a shock third-round exit.
But the Belarusian, who had brushed aside three seeded opponents in straight sets to reach the last four, went down to unseeded Leylah Fernandez, who in turn lost the final to a qualifier, Emma Raducanu.
Since then, Sabalenka has won three Grand Slams, but the defending champion did not get a chance to avenge her loss to the Canadian four years ago, until now.
“You know, I think I bet I don’t remember anything from that match, because I think I changed a lot. I had really tough challenges after that, and I went through. I found myself. I become a better player and a person,” Sabalenka said.
“So I think it’s going to be a completely different match. I bet I just don’t even try to remember that match… I love rematches. So I’m actually super excited facing her here again.”
Fernandez has struggled since reaching the French Open quarter-finals in 2022, never making it past the third round of a Grand Slam.
But the 22-year-old won her first WTA title since 2023 at the Washington Open last month, and will look to carry that momentum with the hope of pulling off yet another upset against the world number one.
TOP MEN’S MATCH: NOVAK DJOKOVIC V CAMERON NORRIE
Novak Djokovic kept his quest for a record 25th slam on track after being given a brief scare against Zachary Svajda in the second round, where he fought back from a first-set loss to win in four sets.
The 38-year-old, who had struggled with a blister on his foot in the first round and dealt with some stiffness during the second set against Svajda, said he was going through an internal tussle as well.
“I’m just trying to be locked in, you know. Just trying to solve the riddle once I’m on the court,” Djokovic told reporters on Wednesday.
“It’s not like I’m not finding joy on the court competing. I enjoy competing, but I don’t enjoy not playing well. That’s why I put extra pressure on myself and my team to be better the next day, the next match.”
Djokovic has won all six of his previous matches against his next opponent Cameron Norrie. The Briton has won only two sets against Djokovic, including the first set in their Wimbledon semi-final clash in 2022, where the Serbian staged a comeback to take victory.
“There is always something to prove once you step out onto the court, which is you’re still able to win a tennis match,” Djokovic said. “You have days like this where you’re not playing at your best, but you just kind of find a way.”
RISING RADUCANU FACES RYBAKINA TEST
The U.S. Open of 2021 remains the only title Emma Raducanu has won on the WTA Tour, but the Briton has made some progress in her bid to recapture her old form, with dominant straight-sets wins in the first two rounds where she has dropped a total of six games.
But Raducanu, who took world number one Sabalenka into two tiebreaks in a three-set defeat at the Cincinnati Open earlier this month, now faces a fellow Grand Slam winner in ninth seed Elena Rybakina, who is also yet to drop a set in her campaign.
Rybakina beat a 19-year-old Raducanu 6-0 6-1 in their only meeting in 2022 before winning Wimbledon the same year.
“I think she’s a top opponent. She’s won Wimbledon. She’s been at the top of the game for so long and very dominant and has big weapons, has a huge serve and big groundstrokes. So I do want to see how my game suits and fits against the top,” Raducanu said. “It’s going to be a tough match.”
Rybakina, however, did not see her previous win over Raducanu as being significant to their upcoming contest.
“She’s a tough opponent and definitely she knows this place better than anyone else, and I’m looking forward for this match. I know that I need to improve a little bit,” the 26-year-old said.
U.S. OPEN ORDER OF PLAY ON FRIDAY
ARTHUR ASHE STADIUM
32-Luciano Darderi v 2-Carlos Alcaraz
4-Jessica Pegula v Victoria Azarenka
7-Novak Djokovic v Cameron Norrie
Taylor Townsend v 5-Mirra Andreeva
LOUIS ARMSTRONG STADIUM
9-Elena Rybakina v Emma Raducanu
6-Ben Shelton v Adrian Mannarino
1-Aryna Sabalenka v 31-Leylah Fernandez
Jerome Kym v 4-Taylor Fritz
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Microsoft Unveils AI Models to Lessen Its Reliance on OpenAI’s The Information
Microsoft starts testing AI model that could escalate competition with OpenAI CNBC
Microsoft unveils powerful new home-grown AI models Semafor
Microsoft Released VibeVoice-1.5B: An Open-Source Text-to-Speech Model that can Synthesize up to 90 Minutes of Speech with Four Distinct Speakers MarkTechPost
Microsoft AI Unveils First In-House Models MAI, Signaling Major Push Into Foundation Model Development StartupHub.ai
Clostridioides difficile (C diff) remains one of the most stubborn and preventable healthcare-associated infections, causing an estimated half million infections, tens of thousands of deaths, and billions of dollars of burden in the United States each year.¹ Despite decades of infection prevention efforts, C diff continues to challenge hospitals, in part because its hardy spores resist alcohol-based hand sanitizers.² For hospital staff, the only reliable defense is washing with soap and water every time.²
Yet compliance is far from perfect. Despite established guidelines, hand hygiene compliance remains a persistent challenge in healthcare environments, with too many opportunities for handwashing still being missed.³ Numerous studies have shown gaps between policy and practice, particularly when dealing with infections like C diff that require different hygiene responses.³ So how can we ensure staff follow through every single time?
Case Example: West Region Hospital Study (2017–2020)
A compelling example of progress in this area comes from an approximately 400-bed West Region United States General Acute Care Hospital that deployed an electronic hand hygiene monitoring system (EHHMS) in 2017. The hospital had historically been performing high in terms of quality ratings, hospital grades, and had low instances of four of the five Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Healthcare Acquired Conditions. The hospital chose to implement the EHHMS to combat an issue the facility had with C diff infection rates, the one CMS hospital acquired condition where they did not have low instance.
The EHHMS, designed to include behavior modification reminders and room-specific contact precaution settings, tracked a total of 20,067 hand hygiene events involving C diff patient rooms during a three-year (2017–2020) time frame. Data revealed that 58.7% of handwashing events were performed properly without prompting. Another 28.9% of staff initially attempted to use hand sanitizer but were then prompted to use a sink for proper handwashing. The remaining 12.4% of staff made no hygiene attempt initially but performed handwashing after receiving a timed reminder.
As the EHHMS allowed for a form of CDI patient isolation and reminders to wash hands, the hospital did report a significant reduction in observed cases of healthcare-acquired C diff in their facility. The hospital obtained over a 50% reduction in C diff cases at its facility in the first year alone, and an 84% reduction over the four years between 2017 and 2020. As a result of their hard work, the hospital received prestigious awards for both patient safety and innovation.
Discussion
These findings highlight both the challenge and the opportunity in promoting effective hand hygiene when combating Cdiff in healthcare environments. While over half of healthcare staff performed the correct protocol independently, a significant portion still required either correction or prompting. This underlines the importance of room-specific contact precautions and real-time reminders tailored to specific hygiene actions that mitigate infection risks.
Limitations
While the study presents promising results, it is important to consider its limitations. The study’s scope was limited to a single facility, potentially limiting the generalizability of its findings. Additionally, while reminders improved immediate compliance, it is unclear whether these changes persisted without the presence of monitoring. Technical limitations of electronic tracking systems may also have an impact on the accuracy of the data collected.
Conclusion
The evidence is clear: when we remind, we prevent. When we prevent, we protect patients. As Cdiff continues to pose a significant threat in healthcare environments, it is essential to reinforce the importance of proper hand hygiene. Electronic monitoring and behavioral prompts have proven to be effective tools in increasing compliance, particularly in settings where traditional methods fall short, making the difference between containment and transmission. Healthcare leaders must invest in broader adoption of technologies and practices that reinforce proper hand hygiene at the point of care.
References
1.Guh AY, Mu Y, Winston LG, et al. Trends in U.S. burden of Clostridioides difficile infection and outcomes. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(14):1320-1330. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1910215
2.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. C. diff (Clostridioides difficile): Clinical Information for Healthcare Professionals. Updated April 2024. Accessed August 27, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/cdiff/clinicians/clinical-overview.html
3.Erasmus V, Daha TJ, Brug H, et al. Systematic review of studies on compliance with hand hygiene guidelines in hospital care. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2010;31(3):283-294. doi:10.1086/650451
Join us on Thursday, September 11, 2025, at 1:30 am (EDT) for the Launch of the Pan American Health Organization Regional Suicide Prevention Initiative. In response to the growing suicide crisis, PAHO is launching a Regional Suicide Prevention Initiative to strengthen national capacities to reduce suicide mortality. The Initiative will provide targeted support to selected countries with high and rising suicide rates, emphasizing evidence-based interventions, including those outlined by the WHO LIVE LIFE Implementation Guide for Suicide Prevention in Countries, as the basis for comprehensive suicide prevention efforts.
Event objectives:
Highlight the current suicide prevention landscape in the Region of the Americas
Present the new PAHO Regional Suicide Prevention Initiative
Facilitate the exchange of best practices, challenges, and lessons learned in national suicide prevention efforts
Promote regional solidarity and multisectoral collaboration to strengthen suicide prevention
How to participate
Agenda
Coming soon!
Background
Suicide is a critical public health concern in the Region of the Americas. In 2021 alone, over 100,000 individuals (9.0 per 100,000 population) died by suicide. Countries in the region consistently rank among those with the highest suicide rates worldwide, underscoring the urgent need for coordinated, multisectoral action.
The Region has seen a troubling increase in suicide; between 2000 and 2021, the regional suicide rate rose by 17%, with the Americas being the only World Health Organization (WHO) region to experience an increase during this period. The COVID-19 pandemic further intensified known risk factors for suicide, such as unemployment, financial instability, and social isolation. Populations including Indigenous and Afro-descendent communities, adolescents, and individuals with severe mental health conditions, among others, are consistently among those at higher risk for suicide.
In recognition of this critical issue, PAHO has made suicide prevention a key priority. This is reflected in its inclusion as a strategic line of action in the Strategy for Improving Mental Health and Suicide Prevention in the Region of the Americas, which was endorsed by the 60th Directing Council in September 2023. Additionally, PAHO’s recent collaborations with the Organization of American States (OAS) resulted in the in adoption of OAS Resolution “Addressing the Critical Mental Health Crisis in the Americas,” in which countries committed to increasing investment in mental health and suicide prevention using a person-centered, rights-and equity-based approach.
Countries in the Region have taken important steps to advance suicide prevention, including developing and updating national suicide prevention strategies, which are essential to guiding coordinated responses to suicide. However, despite this progress, obstacles including weak governance for suicide prevention, the limited integration of mental health in primary care, poor data collection, and pervasive stigma and discrimination continue to undermine effective suicide prevention efforts.
Time in other cities
10:30 a.m. – Los Angeles, Vancouver
11:30 a.m. – Belmopan, Guatemala City, Managua, Mexico City, San José (CR), San Salvador, Tegucigalpa
12:30 p.m. – Bogotá, Panama City, Kingston, Lima, Quito
1:30 p.m. – Bridgetown, Caracas, Georgetown, Havana, La Paz, Port of Spain, Port-au-Prince, Nassau, Ottawa, San Juan, Santiago, Santo Domingo, Washington D.C.,
2:30 p.m. – Asunción, Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Montevideo, Paramaribo
7:30 p.m. – Geneva, Madrid
For other cities, please check the local time on this link.
Photo: Kardashians helping Jessica Simpson with reality TV comeback: Source
The Kardashians are reportedly encouraging Jessica Simpson to embrace her star power once again.
According to the latest findings of Star Magazine, the Kardashian-Jenner clan is “pushing her to realize her potential and the explosive economics that go along with being a reality star in the social media age.”
While Simpson, 45, already has a documentary in the works, insiders shared that her history with reality television makes her uniquely positioned for a comeback.
The source pointed out that her early 2000s smash hit Newlyweds with ex-husband Nick Lachey helped pave the way for the Kardashian family’s reality empire.
“Jessica loved what came along with being in a groundbreaking reality TV smash: the magazine covers, the movie roles, the endorsement deals, the ability to start her own company,” the insider revealed.
They continued, “All of those successes had roots in the Newlyweds success, and the Kardashians are just doing their own version of that.”
However, the spy noted that Simpson’s home life today looks very different than in her Newlyweds era.
For those unversed, the Irresistible singer shares three children, Maxwell, Ace, and Birdie, with her estranged husband, retired NFL player Eric Johnson.
“Her story right now as a single mom juggling work commitments, family and dating is compelling, and the Kardashians, more than anybody, see that it could make for great television,” the source remarked in conclusion.
The maker of Passwordstate, an enterprise-grade password manager for storing companies’ most privileged credentials, is urging them to promptly install an update fixing a high-severity vulnerability that hackers can exploit to gain administrative access to their vaults.
The authentication bypass allows hackers to create a URL that accesses an emergency access page for Passwordstate. From there, an attacker could pivot to the administrative section of the password manager. A CVE identifier isn’t yet available.
Safeguarding enterprises’ most privileged credentials
Click Studios, the Australia-based maker of Passwordstate, says the credential manager is used by 29,000 customers and 370,000 security professionals. The product is designed to safeguard organizations’ most privileged and sensitive credentials. Among other things, it integrates into Active Directory, the service Windows network admins use to create, change, and modify user accounts. It can also be used for handling password resets, event auditing, and remote session logins.
On Thursday, Click Studios notified customers that it had released an update that patches two vulnerabilities.
The authentication bypass vulnerability is “associated with accessing the core Passwordstate Products’ Emergency Access page, by using a carefully crafted URL, which could allow access to the Passwordstate Administration section,” Click Studios said. The company said the severity level of the vulnerability was high.
Increasing the beats per minute (bpm) of physiological pacemakers in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) slowed the development of adverse clinical events, according to a recent study in JAMA Cardiology.
The study was an observational extension of the myPACE clinical trial (myPACE; NCT04721314) that aimed to examine the effects of personalized accelerated pacing on quality of life, physical activity, and atrial fibrillation in patients with HFpEF. The standard pacing rate for a physiological pacer is 60 bpm; however, the myPACE trial personalized an accelerated pacing rate averaging 75 bpm.1
As of 2022, more than 64 million individuals worldwide have been diagnosed with heart failure (HF). HFpEF makes up nearly half of all HF cases, making it the most common HF phenotype. Patients with HFpEF may feel comfortable at rest, but their struggle occurs during exercise, given the profound limitations in their cardiac output reserve and blunted heart rate in response to exertion. While it is believed that cardiac pacing can alleviate symptoms of chronotropic incompetence, reducing cardiac output, specifically during exercise, little data support a pacemaker’s ability to facilitate rate-adaptive pacing in HFpEF patients.2
Accelerated cardiac pacing demonstrated an increase in overall health for heart failure patients with preserved ejection fraction. | Image Credit: Birgit Reitz-Hofmann-Adobestock.jpeg
“In this 4-year observational follow-up analysis, analysis by [intention-to-treat] did not achieve statistical significance between study arms,” the study authors wrote. “However, continued use of personalized accelerated pacing appeared safe and, in PP analysis, was associated with a lower incidence of adverse clinical events compared with a conventional lower rate setting of 60 bpm.”
The 1-year randomized myPACE clinical trial included 107 patients who were enrolled between June 2019 and November 2020. Seven participants were lost to follow-up or withdrew before completing the 1-year follow-up. Of the remaining 100 myPACE trial participants, 48 were randomized into the personalized accelerated pacing (myPACE) at 75 bpm, and the other 52 were in usual care at 60 bpm. The mean age of patients was 74 years, and 48 (55%) of participants were male.
Accelerated Pacing Rate Effects
Before randomization, the mean bpm in the myPACE group and the usual care group was 67 bpm. Post-randomization, the myPACE group mean (SD) bpm was significantly higher than the usual care group (76 [5] bpm vs 65 [4] bpm; P < .001). In both the intention-to-treat (ITT) and the per-protocol (PP) analyses, a trend toward slower event accrual with the myPACE intervention was demonstrated, with only 15 adverse events when compared with the 33 in the usual care group. However, the difference did not reach statistical significance in the ITT analysis ([LWYY estimate, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.22-1.06; P = .07] vs [LWYY, 0.16; 95% CI, 0.04-0.67; P = .01]).
On the other hand, the PP analysis demonstrated a total of 31 adverse events in the usual care group compared with the 5 in the myPACE group, which included 11 heart failure hospitalizations in the usual care group and none in the myPACE group. Furthermore, the ITT analysis showed a nonsignificant trend to longer event-free survival in the myPACE group (HR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.31-1.29; P = .20). Consistent with these findings, the PP analysis showed a significantly longer event-free survival in the myPACE group (HR, 0.30; 95% CI, 0.11-0.80; P = .02).
The myPACE trial provided evidence to support that personalized accelerated heart rate improved the overall health status, physical activity, and atrial fibrillation burden when compared with standard-of-care pacing at 1 year in patients with stage B and C HFpEF and preexisting cardiac physiological pacemakers. Concluding the 1-year follow-up, out of the 100 participants, 87 remained on their assigned heart rate setting (n = 39 in myPACE and 48 in usual care) over a median of 3.4 years and were included in the PP analysis. Those that continued with the personalized accelerated pacing were associated with more than a 50% reduction in adverse clinical events when compared with the usual care group.
“These findings suggest that sustained reductions in cardiac filling pressures, along with heart-rate-mediated beneficial cardiac remodeling, may offer a targeted therapeutic approach for HFpEF,” the study authors wrote.
However, a previous clinical trial, the Rate Adaptive Atrial Pacing for HFpEF (RAPID-HF; NCT02145351), found that rate adaptive pacing triggered by physical activity did not improve exercise capacity or health status in patients with HFpEF and chronotropic incompetence.1 Yet, the study authors emphasized that fundamental differences between the RAPID-HF and myPACE trials—including design, pacing strategy, duration of intervention, patient populations, device types, and end points—limit the ability to directly compare the results.
This study is limited by its observational, open-label design and the use of ITT and PP analyses, which introduce potential bias from unblinded participants and crossover decisions. ITT may mask true effects, while PP could overestimate benefits among those who continued therapy. The small sample size also limits generalizability, underscoring the need for larger trials.
“These findings should be considered nonconclusive and hypothesis-generating, thus warranting confirmation in larger, multicenter randomized clinical trials,” the study authors concluded.
References
1. Infeld M, Cyr J, Novelli AE, et al. Clinical outcomes with personalized accelerated physiologic pacing in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: follow-up of the myPACE trial. JAMA Cardiol. Published online August 27, 2025. doi:10.1001/jamacardio
2. Oraii A, Chaumont C, Marchlinski FE, Hyman MC. Rate-adaptive pacing in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: too much of a good thing? Heart Rhythm O2. 2024; 5(5):334-337. doi:10.1016/j.hroo.2024.03.010
Italian gymnast Lorenzo Bonicelli has been transferred to the spinal unit of Niguarda Hospital in Milan, according to a post on social media from the Ghislanzoni Gal Sports Club of Lecco, where he trained as a youngster.
On 23 July, during the FISU 2025 World University Games in the Rhine-Ruhr region, Bonicelli, 23, sustained a neck injury while performing a triple flipping dismount off the still rings during the qualifying round.
He underwent surgery in Germany to reduce a cervical sprain trauma with subluxation of the fifth vertebra, and a tracheotomy was performed to help him breathe. He was later moved to a hospital in Milan where he began to communicate and eat on his own.
On Wednesday (27 August) “after weeks in intensive care, Bonni was transferred to the Spinal Unit of Niguarda Hospital,” reads a post on Instagram from Ghislanzoni Gal, which launched a fundraising campaign to support his rehabilitation journey.
“It’s an important step – the first step of a long and complex path that will require time, strength and patience. At his side are the doctors, his family, friends and an entire community that continues to show its closeness,” the post continued.
Since his transfer from Germany to Italy, Bonicelli has been accompanied by his family and his girlfriend Lisa Rigamonti, a former gymnast and now a nurse, who in recent days provided further updates on his condition.
“He will begin motor physiotherapy once the vital aspects being monitored in intensive care are stabilised,” she told La Gazzetta dello Sport on 20 August. “Only then, in the spinal unit, will we face the other stages of this journey. Only from that day will we focus on physical rehabilitation.”
Metabolic health before and during pregnancy may have a bigger influence on risks for mother and baby than simply controlling weight gain. Data from a recent paper by Pennington Biomedical researchers indicates that pregnant women with metabolically unhealthy obesity were more likely to develop gestational diabetes than those who were metabolically healthy. The paper, “Metabolic Health and Heterogenous Outcomes of Prenatal Interventions: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial,” was published in the Journal of American Medical Association.
In the “Lifestyle Interventions for Expectant Moms” trial, which informed the paper, researchers evaluated the effect of prenatal lifestyle interventions on gestational weight gain in mothers with overweight and obesity. In the current analysis, the authors evaluated expectant mothers with metabolically healthy obesity, which is obesity without major metabolic risk factors, and those with metabolically unhealthy obesity, which is obesity with at least two metabolic risk factors, such as high blood sugar, high blood pressure or cholesterol. They found that women with metabolically unhealthy obesity gained less weight during pregnancy than those with metabolically healthy obesity. Regardless of the weight gain differences, women with metabolically unhealthy obesity had more cases of gestational diabetes and their infants had more body fat.
Traditionally, we’ve placed a strong emphasis on weight gain during pregnancy, since excessive weight gain is linked to adverse outcomes for both mother and baby. But the fetus doesn’t ‘sense’ weight; instead, it grows based on metabolic substrates like glucose and lipids, which tend to be elevated with obesity. These findings challenge the long-standing assumption that managing gestational weight gain alone is enough. Instead, we need to shift our focus toward early interventions that help regulate maternal glucose and lipid levels to truly improve health outcomes of a mother and her baby.”
Dr. Emily Flanagan, researcher and Director of the Developmental Physiology lab at Pennington Biomedical
When comparing metabolically healthy and metabolically unhealthy participants, the researchers found that the metabolically unhealthy participants gained nearly 37 percent less weight but were twice as likely to develop gestational diabetes. Of the 400 participants with obesity evaluated, 24 percent of those with metabolically unhealthy obesity developed gestational diabetes, compared to 10 percent of those with metabolically healthy obesity.
“We take great pride in our unwavering dedication to enhancing nutrition and metabolic wellness throughout every stage of life, with special focus on supporting mothers-to-be,” said Dr. John Kirwan, Executive Director of Pennington Biomedical. “This outstanding research by Dr. Emily Flanagan, Dr. Leanne Redman, Dr. Kimberly Drews and their talented team beautifully exemplify our mission in action, revealing exciting opportunities to boost metabolic health for expectant mothers both before conception and throughout their pregnancy journey.”
The study included lifestyle interventions, of which both groups – those with metabolically healthy obesity and metabolically unhealthy obesity – had the intervention initiated toward the end of the first trimester and responded similarly. This study indicates that an earlier intervention that is specifically tailored to improving metabolic health, rather than controlling weight gain alone, may have helped to reduce the prolonged elevated exposure of glucose and lipids to the fetus, especially in mothers who have elevated substrates at the start of pregnancy.
Source:
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Journal reference:
Flanagan, E. W., et al. (2025). Metabolic Health and Heterogenous Outcomes of Prenatal Interventions. JAMA Network Open. doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.28264
