Browse Articles

Adherence to the current guidelines on antibiotic prescription among dental practitioners: A national survey

Background The global emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance jeopardise health-care advances and life expectancy. Following the latest antibiotic guidelines is crucial to combat this issue. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the knowledge regarding antibiotics prescription and investigate the evidence-based practices among dental practitioners in Saudi Arabia. Method This cross-sectional study was conducted during November 2020 to April 2021 in Saudi Arabia. A self-designed validated questionnaire comprising 27 close ended knowledge-based questions and 9 practice-based question was administered among dentists working in various settings through online generated link. A pilot study in 20 dental specialists and consultants was conducted prior to the study, to arise at sample size of 318. Reliability of the questionnaire was assessed with Cronbach’s α value of 0.85, face validity of 84%, and content validity ratio of 0.78. The knowledge and practice score were graded based on quartile derivatives. The data was analyzed using descriptive analysis, chi square analysis, correlation, and regression by IBM SPSS® Statistics for Windows, Version 28.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp. Results The average age of the participants was 36.3 ±  5.9 years, and their average experience was about 7.3 years. The mean knowledge score was 19.62 ±  4.28 with government employees scoring higher (20.03 ±  3.90) compared to private practitioners and academicians. Clinicians with less than five years of experience had significantly higher knowledge scores (p =  0.002). The majority of the participants, 218 (68.55%), had good practices while 100 (31.44%) participants showed poor practices. Moreover, only half of the participants could correctly identify the majority of case-based scenarios related to antibiotic prescriptions. Conclusion Dentists in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have a good level of knowledge and practices on antibiotics prescription. However, some aspects of poor practices particularly among private sector clinicians necessitate the launching of educational campaigns, interventions and provision of latest guidelines for prudent use of antibiotics in dental practice.

Clinical implications of deep learning based image analysis of whole radical prostatectomy specimens

Position Statement of ISCCM on Intrahospital Transport of Critically Ill Patients

A randomized, controlled trial of a web-based tailored intervention to increase human papillomavirus vaccination among people living with HIV/AIDS

Background Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes several cancers that disproportionally affect people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH) yet there is a paucity of research on interventions to foster HPV vaccine use in this population. We sought to evaluate the efficacy of a web-based, tailored intervention (e-HPV) to promote HPV vaccination among PLWH. Methods This is a randomized controlled trial with PLWH aged 18 to 45 years. Participants were recruited between January and June 2022 and randomized into two groups: experimental group (e-HPV), which received information about HPV and the HPV vaccine, based on the Protection Motivation Theory and control group, who received a clipping of information from the page maintained by the Ministry of Health dedicated to informing the population about HPV and the HPV vaccine. The primary and secondary outcomes were the percentage of PLWH willing to get HPV vaccine and HPV vaccine initiation (i.e., receipt of any doses by PLWH), respectively. Results A total of 654 individuals were randomly allocated: 327 in the e-HPV and 327 in the control group. The average age was 29.7 years, the majority were men (71.4%), black or mixed race (63.2%). The intention to get vaccinated against HPV was approximately twice as high among participants in the e-HPV vs. control group (OR = 2.0, 95% CI: 1.3–3.4; p < 0.003), and HPV vaccine initiation was also significantly more common among participants in the e-HPV group (OR = 2.1, 95% CI: 1.1-4.0; p = 0.03). Belief in the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine, risk perception and the severity of an HPV infection were the reasons most reported by participants intending to get HPV vaccination. Conclusions The intervention was acceptable and efficacious in increasing HPV vaccination among PLWH. Future studies are warranted to optimize and disseminate the e-HPV intervention to settings providing services to PLWH. Trial registration Brazilian Clinical Trials Registry RBR-557mbvy

Vehicular mediated emissions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in roadside soils of Shanghai

Should We Scope? Or is there a Scope for the Probe?

Promoting engagement with social fact-checks online: Investigating the roles of social connection and shared partisanship

Social corrections – where users correct each other – can help rectify inaccurate beliefs. However, social corrections are often ignored. Here we ask under what conditions social corrections promote engagement from corrected users, allowing for greater insight into how users respond to debunking messages (even if such responses are negative). Prior work suggests two key factors may help promote engagement with corrections – partisan alignment between users, and social connections between users. We investigate these factors here. First, we conducted a field experiment on Twitter (X) using human-looking bots to examine how shared partisanship and prior social connection affect correction engagement. We randomized whether our accounts identified as Democrat or Republican, and whether they followed Twitter users and liked three of their tweets before correcting them (creating a minimal social connection). We found that shared partisanship had no significant effect in the baseline (no social connection) condition. Interestingly, social connection increased engagement with corrections from co-partisans. Effects in the social counter-partisan condition were ambiguous. Follow-up survey experiments largely replicated these results and found evidence for a generalized norm of responding, wherein people feel more obligated to respond to people who follow them – even outside the context of misinformation correction. Our findings have important implications for increasing engagement with social corrections online.

Prognostic impact of clinical trial eligibility in patients with advanced gastric cancer

Role of Antimicrobial Air Purifier in Reducing the Microbial Load in the Critical Care Unit in Oncology Center: An Intervention Study

Trend of home birth and its associated factors in Ethiopia during COVID-19 and social crisis (2019–2023)

Background Maternal mortality is unacceptably high in some countries of the world, including Ethiopia. Access to skilled delivery is one of the prevention methods for maternal and neonatal deaths. However, a significant number of women gave birth at home due to many reasons. In, Ethiopia, after the implementation of many interventions to reduce home birth, the change in its trend was not studied. Hence, this study was aimed to address this information gap. Objective To determine the trend of home birth and its associated factors in Ethiopia during COVID-19 and Social Crisis from 2019–2023. Method We obtained the data from the Performance Monitoring for Action, which employed panel design with embedded cross-sectional surveys from 2019–2023. A total sample of 8,419 women who gave birth were included in this analysis. A two-stage cluster sampling was applied to select study participants. The datasets were appended, edited, and analyzed using STATA 17 and SPSS 25. Microsoft Excel was used to prepare line graphs. A binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with home delivery. We used an adjusted odds ratio with 95% CI to measure the strength of associations. Result The level of home birth showed a significant decline from 37.80% in 2019 to 29.90% in 2023. Having less than four ANC visits [AOR = 1.91, 95% CI (1.25, 2.92)], not encouraged by partners to visit clinics [AOR =  2.15, 95%CI (1.19, 3.87)], and did not discuss delivery by skilled attendant during ANC visit [AOR =  1.70, 95% CI (1.09, 2.64)] were some of the variables significantly associated with home birth. Conclusion Home birth is declining in Ethiopia. Providers and health managers should use ANC visits as a good opportunity to inform, encourage and follow mothers to attend birth at a health facility.

Enhancing zinc and iron biofortification in mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) through various application method

Can Early Use of HFNC through Improved Study Design Make a Statistically Significant Difference in the Rate of Intubation in Patients with Post-traumatic Lung Contusion?

Decoding oncogenic secrets of regulator of chromosome condensation 1: A breakthrough mechanistic evidence from breast and lung cancer models

The Regulator of Chromosome Condensation 1 (RCC1), a master regulator of cell cycle progression, chromatin structure, and nuclear transport, emerges as a powerful driver of cancer progression. Elevated RCC1 expression in breast and lung cancers is closely tied to enhanced tumor cell survival, proliferation, and metastasis, positioning it as a promising therapeutic target. This study unveils RCC1’s pivotal role in cancer biology by silencing its expression in MDA-MB-231 (breast cancer) and A549 (lung cancer) cell lines using shRNA. RCC1 knockdown dramatically reduced cell viability, colony formation, and motility, while inducing apoptosis, as evidenced by increased apoptotic markers and reduced anti-apoptotic Bcl2 expression. Gene expression analysis revealed downregulation of cell cycle and DNA repair pathways, highlighting RCC1’s critical role in sustaining oncogenic mechanisms. These findings underscore RCC1 as a gatekeeper of tumor survival, capable of resisting apoptosis and promoting metastasis. Targeting RCC1 offers a dual advantage: disrupting cancer growth and enhancing apoptotic pathways, creating an exciting opportunity for precision therapies. By illuminating RCC1’s integration into survival networks, this study not only advances our understanding of cancer biology but also lays the groundwork for innovative treatments aimed at halting cancer progression and metastasis.

Alternative splicing dynamics during gastrulation in mouse embryo

Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Clinical Outcomes of Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae Strains among Klebsiella pneumoniae Infections: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Computation of mixed resolvability for a circular ladder and its unbounded nature

Let Γ = Γ(V ,E) be a simple, planar, connected, and undirected graph. The article primarily concentrates on a category of planar graphs, detailing the explicit identification of each member within this graph family. Within the domain of graph theory, the parameters used to uniquely identify vertices and edges of a graph are commonly referred to as variants of metric dimension, collectively known as resolvability parameters. The present study focuses on the intricate planar structure of a five-sided circular ladder (pentagonal); denoted by Ph5, and investigate some of the recently introduced resolvability parameters for it, which are mixed metric basis and mixed metric dimension. We prove that the mixed metric dimension for Ph5 is unbounded, and it depends upon the number of vertices present in it. The comparison between several resolvability parameters, viz., metric dimension and edge metric dimension, for Ph5 with mixed metric dimension have also been incorporated in this manuscript, indicating higher level of complexity for resolving both edge and vertex-based relationships. Moreover, several theoretical as well as application based properties, including examples, have also been discussed for Ph5.

A quantum random access memory (QRAM) using a polynomial encoding of binary strings

The Novel “RISC” Score as a Risk-prediction Model of Carbapenem-resistant Hospital-acquired Infections in Adult Sepsis Patients – A Prospective Observational Study

Infection model of THP-1 cells, growth dynamics, and antimicrobial susceptibility of clinical Mycobacterium abscessus isolates from cystic fibrosis patients: Results from a multicentre study

Mycobacterium abscessus (MABS) is an emerging pathogen causing severe infections, particularly in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. A prospective multicentre study included CF patients from four hospitals in Madrid between January 2022 and January 2024. Respiratory samples were collected, and MABS isolates were analysed to determine their antibiotic resistance profiles, growth dynamics, infection kinetics, intracellular behaviour, and pathogenicity. Intracellular bacterial growth and macrophage viability were evaluated through THP-1 cell infection experiments, with and without amikacin. Phenotypic susceptibility testing and genotypic susceptibility testing were also conducted. Among 148 patients, 28 MABS isolates were detected from 16 patients (10.8%), and the first isolate from each patient was analysed. Isolation was more prevalent in younger individuals (median age 24.4 vs. 28.4 years, p = 0.049), and most isolates (81.25%) were identified as M. abscessus subsp. abscessus (MABSa). MABS isolates exhibited high resistance rates (>85%) to doxycycline, tobramycin, ciprofloxacin, moxifloxacin (75%) and cotrimoxazole (56.3%). Amikacin resistance (18.8%) was higher than expected, and inducible (10/16 isolates) or acquired (1/16 isolate) macrolide resistance was found in 68.8% of strains. Phenotypic and genotypic testing results were fully concordant. Tigecycline demonstrated strong in vitro activity, and resistance to imipenem, linezolid, and cefoxitin remained low. Rough strains displayed lower optical density values in later growth stages, probably due to their increased aggregation. In THP-1 cell infection experiments, rough strains showed higher intracellular bacterial loads with statistically significant differences observed at 2 hours (both with and without amikacin) and at 72 hours (with amikacin) post infection. Notably, rough strains also exhibited a higher internalisation index and greater impact on THP-1 cell viability, especially in the absence of amikacin.

Shape optimization of geometrically nonlinear modal coupling coefficients: an application to MEMS gyroscopes

Abstract Micro- and nanoelectromechanical system (MEMS and NEMS) resonators can exhibit rich nonlinear dynamics as they are often operated at large amplitudes with high quality factors and possess a high mode density with a variety of nonlinear modal couplings. Their impact is strongly influenced by internal resonance conditions and by the strength of the modal coupling coefficients. On one hand, strong nonlinear couplings are of academic interest and promise novel device concepts. On the other hand, however, they have the potential to disturb the linear system behavior on which industrial devices such as gyroscopes and micro mirrors are based. In either case, being able to optimize the coupling coefficients by design is certainly beneficial. A main source of nonlinear modal couplings are geometric nonlinearities. In this work, we apply node-based shape optimization to tune the geometrically nonlinear 3-wave coupling coefficients of a MEMS gyroscope. We demonstrate that individual coupling coefficients can be tuned over several orders of magnitude by shape optimization, while satisfying typical constraints on manufacturability and operability of the devices. The optimized designs contain unintuitive geometrical features far away from any solution an experienced human MEMS or NEMS designer could have thought of. Thus, this work demonstrates the power of shape optimization for tailoring the complex nonlinear dynamic properties of MEMS and NEMS resonators.