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Impact of lufenuron on hematology, serum biochemistry, antioxidant enzymes, and histopathology in broiler chickens
The widespread utilization of synthetic chemicals, including weedicides, pesticides, insecticides, and fertilizers, has contaminated the environment. Therefore, it is crucial to recognize the ongoing threat of various stressors, including exposure to synthetic and natural chemicals on various target and non-target living organisms. Lufenuron is extensively utilized in controlling ectoparasites in companion animals and may offer a potential solution for addressing analogous challenges in commercial poultry farming. For this purpose, an experimental study was conducted to estimate the potential toxic effects of lufenuron in chickens. A total of 75 broiler chickens were housed under standard environmental conditions for the period of 39 days following a 7-day acclimatization. Birds were randomly divided into five groups (A-E), each consisting of 15 birds, and administered different doses of lufenuron in groups B-E @ 4, 8, 12, and 16 mg/kg body mass, respectively. Various hematological, biochemical, and histopathological biomarkers were assessed in blood and visceral organs. In the current experimental trial, the values of RBC count, PCV, hemoglobin, and MCHC significantly (<0.05) decreased, while WBCs and MCH significantly (<0.05) increased in treated birds. Results showed significantly increased values of renal function tests (urea and creatinine), liver function tests (ALP, AST, and ALT), and cardiac biomarkers (cholesterol and creatinine kinase) in broilers exposed to higher doses of lufenuron. Various histopathological ailments were examined in the liver, kidneys, and heart of the broiler in the dose and time-dependent manner. The current study showed that lufenuron induces oxidative stress, depletion of various antioxidant enzymes, and histoarchitectural alterations in multiple visceral organs.
Assessment of physical activity patterns in patients with rheumatoid arthritis using the UK Biobank
Measures of physical activity patterns that may characterize rheumatoid arthritis status were investigated, using actigraphy data from a large, prospective database study (UK Biobank). Population characterization identified 1080 individuals with rheumatoid arthritis who participated in accelerometer-measured physical activity data collection and met the eligibility criteria; these individuals were subsequently matched with 2160 non-rheumatoid arthritis controls. Raw actigraphy data were pre-processed to interpretable acceleration magnitude and general signal-based features were used to derive activity labels from a human activity recognition model. Qualitative assessment of average activity profiles indicated small differences between groups for activity in the first 5 hours of the day, engagement in moderate-to-vigorous activity, and evening sleep patterns. Of 145 metrics capturing different aspects of physical activity, 57 showed an ability to differentiate between participants with rheumatoid arthritis and non-rheumatoid arthritis controls, most notably activities related to moderate-to-vigorous activity, sleep and the ability to perform sustained activity, which remained different when adjusting for baseline imbalances. Objective measures derived from wrist-worn accelerometer data may be used to assess and quantify the impact of rheumatoid arthritis on daily activity and may reflect rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. This work represents an initial step towards the characterization of such impact. Importantly, this study offers a glimpse of the potential use of large-scale datasets to support the analysis of smaller clinical study datasets.
Use of a cooling pack to reduce subcutaneous vaccine injection pain in children aged 3–6 years: A single-blind, randomized, parallel-group multicenter study
Background There are many evidence-based treatments available for pain-relief during subcutaneous vaccine injection in children. However, these methods are commonly labor-intensive and not routinely applied in clinical settings. Objectives To evaluate the safety and pain-relieving effect of local cooling during subcutaneous vaccine injection in young children. Method This single-blind, randomized, parallel-group multicenter study was conducted at two pediatric clinics in Hyogo Prefecture, which included preschool children aged 3–6 years scheduled for vaccination against Japanese encephalitis or influenza virus. Participants were randomly assigned to either the cooled group (local cooling applied using a cooling pack before vaccination) or the non-cooled group (provided with a room temperature cooling pack). Randomization was performed using a computer-generated block method. The primary endpoint was infant pain, measured using the FLACC scale (Facial expression, Leg movement, Activity, Crying, Consolability), rated by a third-party reviewing videos of the vaccination process. Results A total of 60 children were randomized into the cooling (n = 30) and non-cooling (n = 30) groups, with all participants completing the study. Fifty-four participants received the Japanese encephalitis vaccine, and six received the influenza vaccine. Demographic data, including age, sex, and vaccine type, did not differ significantly between the two groups. The median FLACC score in the cooled group was significantly lower (1 [IQR 0–1.25]) compared to the non-cooled group (2.5 [IQR 1–6]) (P = 0.011). No adverse effects related to cooling were observed. Conclusion Local cooling during subcutaneous vaccine administration is a safe and effective method to reduce pain in children aged 3-6 years. This method can be easily implemented in routine vaccinations to improve patient comfort. Trial registration Japan Registry of Clinical Trials, jRCTs052200149, Mar 09, 2021, https://jrct.niph.go.jp/en-latest-detail/jRCTs052200149.
Genotypes of Acropora cervicornis in Florida show resistance to either elevated nutrients or disease, but not both in combination
Coral restoration programs are expanding to revive coral populations and ecosystem services, but local and global stressors still threaten coral survival. In the Caribbean, the ESA-listed staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis has experienced profound declines due to multiple stressors, including disease and nutrient pollution. We studied the impact of these two stressors on ten A. cervicornis genotypes for which disease susceptibility was previously ranked in a disease transmission experiment. Results showed that elevated ammonium, disease, and their combination negatively affected A. cervicornis survivorship, with variable susceptibility among genotypes. Three genotypes were susceptible to elevated ammonium alone and experienced mortality in up to 80% of their fragments. Exposure to a disease homogenate under ambient ammonium caused mortality in 100% of the fragments in four coral genotypes, intermediate mortality in five (33-66% of their fragments), and no mortality in one genotype. However, all genotypes experienced mortality (30-100% of their fragments) when exposed to both elevated ammonium and disease. Despite the detrimental effects of ammonium on coral survivorship, corals under elevated ammonium presented higher photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) of the algal symbionts. Disease susceptibility did not align with the genotypic ranking established in a previous study, suggesting that, while genotypes may vary in their disease resistance, rankings may change due to environmental factors or disease type. Regardless of individual susceptibility, our results suggest that water quality improvement is necessary for increasing A. cervicornis survivorship.
The 12th century bronze doors of Barisanus of Trani in Trani, Ravello and Monreale
The bronze and brass doors of the 11th and 12th centuries represent the largest group of medieval monumental bronzes still preserved today in Europe. Of the less than 30 doors that have survived, three, the doors of Trani, Ravello and Monreale, were made by Barisanus of Trani. In this work, we present, for the first time, chemical analyses of the metal parts of all the doors and an in-depth study of their production, showing how a detailed observation of the casting characteristics provides information on the chronological order of the doors studied. This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion in art history regarding the chronological order of the construction of the doors. Moreover, the paper demonstrates the potential of scaled orthometric images as a basis for art historical and production-related questions.
New insights on Galectin-9 expression in cancer prognosis: An updated systemic review and meta-analysis
Galectin-9 (Gal-9) has gained increasing attention in recent years in the field of cancer immunology. Its interactions with various immune cell types in the tumor microenvironment influence tumor progression, making it a novel target for immunotherapy. Despite its potential as a therapeutic target, the prognostic significance of Gal-9 in tumor cells remains unclear. Conflicting data exists on its expression levels and outcomes, prompting a comprehensive review and meta-analysis to elucidate its independent prognostic role across different cancer types. This study aims to examine the varying effects of Gal-9 expression across various cancer subtypes, providing insights into its potential as a prognostic marker and highlighting its significance in the realm of cancer treatment. To assess the prognostic significance of Gal-9 expression in cancer, we conducted a comprehensive database search across PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science, incorporating studies published until December 2024, regardless of language. Using pooled hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), we evaluated the role of Gal-9 expression in predicting cancer outcomes across various cancer types. Our analysis encompassed 29 studies with a total of 4,720 patients to investigate the prognostic significance of Gal-9 expression across different cancer types. The results demonstrated that elevated Gal-9 expression was significantly associated with improved overall survival (OS) in solid tumors, with a pooled hazard ratio of 0.75 (95% CI: 0.63-0.90, p = 0.002). No statistically significant correlation was observed between Gal-9 expression and cancer recurrence (HR = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.65–1.19, p = 0.42). Conversely, in hematological cancers, high Gal-9 expression correlated with more rapid disease progression, as reflected by progression-free survival (PFS) or time to treatment (TTT) (HR = 2.29, 95% CI: 1.26–4.16, p = 0.007). The subgroup analyses further revealed that higher Gal-9 expression was associated with OS in gastrointestinal and urological cancers and was linked to disease-free survival (DFS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in hepatobiliary and urological cancers. Our research has uncovered that Gal-9 serves as a promising prognostic indicator for solid tumors, offering valuable insights into patient outcomes. High levels of Gal-9 expression within gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary, and urological cancers have been linked to better prognoses, while its presence in hematological cancers is associated with poorer outcomes. These contrasting findings emphasize the importance of interpreting biomarkers with careful consideration to the specific context. Moreover, our study sheds light on the diverse physiological roles of intracellular and secreted Gal-9, highlighting the intricate ways in which this protein influences cancer progression.
Evidence for a constant occipital spotlight of attention using MVPA on EEG data
While traditional behavioural and electroencephalographic studies claim that visuospatial attention stays fixed at one location at a time, recent research has rather shown that attention rhythmically fluctuates between locations at different rates. However, little is known about the temporal dynamics of this fluctuation and whether it changes over time. We addressed this question by investigating how the neural pattern of visuospatial attention behaves over space and time by employing classification and conventional analysis of occipito-parietal EEG activity. Furthermore, we simulated data with the attentional electrophysiological correlates to control for the ground truth that would give rise to certain classification patterns. We analysed two visuospatial cueing tasks, with a peripheral and a central cue to control for sensory-driven processes, where attention was covertly oriented to the left or right hemifield. First, to decode the spatial locus of attention from neural activity, we trained and tested a classifier on every timepoint from the attentional cue to the stimulus onset. This resulted in one temporal generalization matrix per participant, which was time-frequency decomposed to identify the sampling rhythm. Independently, we calculated a lateralization index based on ERPs and alpha-band power and correlated these indices with classifier performance. Eventually, we simulated two dataset, with ERPs and alpha-band attentional modulations, and employed the same decoding approach. Our results show that attention settled on the cued hemifield in a late time window, but an early and rhythmic sampling of both hemifields exclusively after the peripheral cue. Only the ERP lateralization index correlated with classifier performance in the periperhal cue dataset, suggesting that the early rhythmic state did not reflect attentional sampling but instead was driven by the cue location, idea also supported by our simulations. Together, our results characterise the occipital attentional sampling as a constant process slightly delayed after the cue.
Comparison of traditional systemic analgesic, single shot or continuous fascia iliaca compartment block for pain management in patients with hip or proximal femoral fractures: A protocol for systematic review and network meta-analysis
Introduction Pain management for hip and proximal femoral fractures includes oral and parenteral opioids and various regional anesthesia techniques. Fascia iliaca compartment blocks (FICB) are commonly used for these patients. At present, a unified view of the analgesic effect of FICB has not been reached. In addition, the comparison between single shot FICB and continuous FICB has not elicited clear evidence-based results. We will compare the efficacy and safety of systemic analgesics, single shot or continuous FICB in the pain management, complication prevention and satisfaction, in our systematic review and network meta-analysis. Methods China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literatures database, PubMed, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Physiotherapy Evidence Database, EMBASE, and Web of Science will be searched until June 2023. Two authors will independently screen the studies for eligibility and perform data extraction. The Cochrane risk of bias tool (RoB 2) will be used to assess the quality of evidence. We will use the GRADE approach to assess the certainty of the evidence across studies included in this review. All the statistical analyses will be conducted using Rev Man 5.3, WinBUGS 1.4.3, and Stata 13. Ethics and dissemination Our review involves a secondary analysis of existing published studies, therefore there is no need for formal research ethics approval. We will disseminate our findings through publication in a peer-reviewed journal, Protocol registration PROSPERO, CRD42023425282
Beyond the Greater Angkor Region: Automatic large-scale mapping of Angkorian-period reservoirs in satellite imagery using deep learning
Archaeologists often use high-resolution satellite imagery to identify potential archaeological sites or features, including ancient settlements, burial mounds, roads, and even subtle differences in vegetation or topography. Over the last several decades, satellite imagery and other remote sensing techniques (including aerial photography and LiDAR data) have been used to thoroughly map the extensive settlement complex of the Greater Angkor Region (1 500 km2, 9th – 14th centuries CE) in present-day Cambodia. While we now have a comprehensive map of this area, the landscapes beyond the Greater Angkor Region that formed the Angkorian cultural sphere have not been mapped, even though the density of features on the landscape seems to continue beyond the area considered Greater Angkor. While a comprehensive settlement study of the entire Angkorian realm would be incredibly helpful in understanding patterns of ancient urbanism and early statehood in Southeast Asia, mapping this area using manual identification of archaeological features in satellite imagery would be highly time-consuming. In this paper, we employ a state-of-the-art deep learning model for semantic segmentation using Deeplab V3 + to identify one typical and characteristic feature: Angkor-period reservoirs. Our results indicate that this AI model is accurate enough to provide a valuable “second opinion” to landscape archaeologists to enhance and quicken their mapping process, making them substantially more productive. The deep learning model for semantic segmentation employed here, which can be trained on other types of archaeological and non-archaeological features worldwide, will be a valuable tool for areas of research that involve intensive manual investigation and interpretation of satellite imagery and will aid researchers as they continue to map the Angkorian world.
Physical activity and handgrip strength in patients with mild, moderate and severe haemophilia: Impacts on bone quality and lean mass
Background Patients with haemophilia (PwH) might be restricted in physical activity (PA) depending on the severity phenotype. It is well-known that PA affects overall health including bone quality. This study aims to evaluate the level of PA within the different haemophilia severity phenotypes and to elaborate on the interplay of PA in regard to bone quality (bone mineral density (BMD) and trabecular bone score (TBS)) as well as lean mass. Methods This investigation was part of a large prospective single-center cohort study examining the relation between haemophilia and osteoporosis registered at clinicaltrials.gov (ID: NCT04524481). PwH underwent a dual x-ray screening using Horizon™ to examine BMD, TBS, and lean mass. Step activity was tracked electronically for seven consecutive days after clinical examination, supported by a self-reported activity diary for seven days. Handgrip strength was examined as an overall fitness proxy. Results Data of 223 patients with either mild (N = 45), moderate (N = 46), or severe (N = 132) haemophilia A or B, aged 43.6 ± 15.6 years were analyzed. There was no significant difference in objective (p = 0.162) and subjective (p = 0.459) PA levels between severity phenotypes. The most frequent type of PA in all severities was walking (n = 72, 53.3%) and cycling (n = 60, 44.4%). Step activity positively correlated with TBS (rho = 0.202, p = 0.005) and lean mass positively correlated with BMD (rho = 0.309, p < 0.001). Handgrip strength correlated with BMD (rho = 0.361, p < 0.001) as well as TBS (rho = 0.221, p = 0.021) and lean mass (rho = 0.287, p = 0.003). Conclusion PA does not differ significantly between the severity phenotypes. The majority of PwH in all severity phenotypes performed low-impact PA, which is most likely insufficient to positively affect BMD. However, handgrip strength correlates with BMD and TBS. Despite restrictions in movement function or reduced BMD, it is of major importance to promote PA to maintain a healthy or even increase bone quality.
Psychophysiological correlates of science communicators
We conducted a study in an ecological setting to evaluate the heart rate variability (HRV) of expert communicators during a live national primetime video interview. The study involved 32 expert science communicators, all with mid- to long-term experience in public speaking and outreach work, who were evaluated by an external jury to assess their communication skills. Prior to the experiment, participants completed an online survey to gather socio-demographic data, work-related information, and psychological profiles. The six indices of communication abilities assessed by jury were: Interest, Agreement, Engagement, Authoritativeness learning, and Clarity. HRV acquisitions were divided into three phases: baseline pre-interview, during the interview, and another baseline recording after the interview. Science communicators were characterized by high levels of self-esteem and prosociality, which were positively correlated with communication indices and inversely correlated with age. Evaluation of physiological responses showed that the total power and low-frequency components of HRV were significantly higher in the post-interview phase compared to both the interview and pre-interview phases. However, when we divided the entire group according to high and low Authoritativeness and Clarity indices, significant interactive effects were detected. Indeed, for the low Authoritativeness and Clarity subgroups, significant differences among all phases were observed, with total power decreasing from the pre-interview to the interview phase and increasing in the post-interview phase. This indicates a clear pattern of stress response and recovery. In contrast, the high Authoritativeness and Clarity subgroup showed less variation across phases, suggesting better stress regulation or less perceived stress during the interview. We provided the psychophysiological basis of science communication expertise that can affect the control of stress regulation during public speaking.
Association of ambient air pollution exposure with psychological distress in mid and later adulthood: A 26-year prospective cohort study
Background Existing evidence on associations between exposure to air pollution and psychological distress from middle to older age is limited by consideration of short exposure periods, poor historical covariates, exposures and outcomes, and cross-sectional study designs. We aimed to examine this association over a 26-year period between ages 43 and 69. Methods We utilised data from the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development Study (the 1946 British birth cohort). Land-use regression models estimated exposure to specific air pollutants using household addresses for 1991 (NO2), 2001 (PM10, NO2), and 2010 (NO2, NOx, PM10, PM2.5, PMcoarse, PM2.5abs). These were linked to the closest data collection wave at ages 43, 53 and 60-64, respectively. Psychological distress was assessed through the 28-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), at ages 53, 60-64 and 69. Associations between each of the pollutants with psychological distress were analysed using generalised linear mixed models, adjusted for pollution exposure before age 43, assigned sex, social class, smoking status, neighbourhood deprivation, and previous mental health problems. We also examined effect modification by social class. Results At age 69, 2125 participants completed the GHQ-28. In fully adjusted models, higher NO2 exposure was associated with higher GHQ-28 scores across a 26-year period (β=0.023, 95%CI:0.005, 0.040 per interquartile range increase in exposure), whereas higher exposure to PM10 was associated with lower GHQ-28 scores across a 16-year period (β=-0.021, 95%CI:-0.037, -0.006). There was no evidence of associations between exposure to other pollutants at age 60-64 and GHQ-28 at age 69. We found no effect modification by social class. Conclusions In this cohort there was some evidence of an association between higher cumulative exposure to NO2 and higher psychological distress, but mixed associations with other exposures. Policies to reduce pollutant exposure may help improve psychological symptoms in middle to late adulthood.
CRISPR/dCas12a-mediated activation of SlPAL2 enhances tomato resistance against bacterial canker disease
Crop protection is essential for maintaining and improving agricultural productivity. While pesticides are commonly used to control pests, they pose several challenges, including environmental harm and health risks. Alternative strategies to pesticides include breeding resistant crop varieties, biological control, and utilizing genome-editing tools like CRISPR/Cas. However, the application of epigenome editing, particularly CRISPR activation (CRISPRa), in plants remains underexplored. Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), a key enzyme in the phenylpropanoid pathway, plays a pivotal role in plant defense by producing lignin and other secondary metabolites essential for pathogen resistance. In this study, we engineered tomato plants by fusing the SET-domain of the SlATX1 coding gene, a histone H3 lysine 4 tri-methyltransferase, to dCas12a, targeting the SlPAL2 promoter with the aim to increase PAL2 gene expression. CRISPRa-edited plants demonstrated increased deposition of the H3K4me3 epigenetic mark and significantly upregulated SlPAL2 expression. This enhanced lignin accumulation and conferred increased resistance to Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis (Cmm) without significant reduction in plant height or fruit yield. Disease resistance was also associated with reduced pathogen load and lesion size, and higher lignin levels persisted even after SlPAL2 expression declined post-infection. These findings highlight the potential of CRISPRa for reprogramming plant defense responses through targeted histone modifications, offering a sustainable approach for crop improvement. Furthermore, CRISPRa could also be applied to enhance crop resilience in other contexts, such as addressing food security challenges by enhancing productivity.
Assessing least-cost mitigation methods for environmental phosphorus loading of different pasture-based and housed dairy production systems in Great Britain
Mitigating environmental phosphorus loading (EPL) from dairy farms reduces water pollution and improves the sustainability of production. Studies generally simulate EPL from dairy farms using a representative farm type from existing databases. However, housed and pasture-based dairy farming systems might contribute to eutrophication differently and have a varied feasibility of implementing mitigation. This study is the first that quantified EPL from dairy farms using data for FARMSCOPER collected from farmers and comparing EPL and identifying a least-cost suite of mitigation methods. Structural characteristics of 27 dairy farms in Great Britain (GB) were collected. Annual EPL from each farm was simulated in FARMSCOPER under three scenarios. Mean EPL of the production systems was compared to investigate any relationship between EPL and average 305 day adjusted milk yield of cows on each farm. A least-cost suite of mitigation methods was optimised for two model farms to represent either a housed or pasture-based system. Across both systems, ‘current’ implementation of mitigation methods was simulated to have reduced EPL from 0.63 to 0.56 kg P/ha (11%). The ‘current’ EPL positively correlated with milk production on a kg and kg/ha basis (P ≤ 0.001 and P = 0.033, respectively). Farms operating a housed system had a mean ‘current’ EPL that was 59% greater than the pasture-based system though not significant (P = 0.316). This was partly due to a small sample size and because FARMSCOPER’s estimates exclude variations in farm practices (i.e., feeding). EPL was reduced by ~ 50% and ~ 60% without incurring annual financial losses by implementing existing mitigation methods for pasture-based and housed systems, respectively. This study highlights the importance of mitigating EPL from GB dairy farming, especially considering the increasing number of higher yielding herds and housed production systems. Furthermore, emphasis should be on increasing implementation of system-specific mitigating methods; efforts to include more recent and specific farm data to improve the FARMSCOPER tool will benefit this.
Identification of cross-reactive vaccine antigen candidates in Gram-positive ESKAPE pathogens through subtractive proteome analysis using opsonic sera
The Gram-positive pathogens of the ESKAPE group, Enterococcus faecium, and Staphylococcus aureus , are well-known to pose a serious risk to human health because of their high virulence and numerous drug resistances. To narrow down the list of previously identified promising protein vaccine candidates, a combination of several antigen discovery approaches was performed, in particular a “false positive analysis” of peptides generated by trypsin shaving with a subtractive proteome analysis. The final list of nine potential antigens included AdcA au , a protein performing the same function as AdcA fm , an already discovered antigen in enterococci. Bioinformatic analyses revealed that AdcA au and AdcA fm share a sequence identity of 41.2% and that the conserved regions present a high antigenicity. AdcA au was selected for further investigation and the results reported in this manuscript demonstrate the opsonic properties of AdcA au -specific antibodies against the Staphylococcus aureus strain MW2, as well as their cross-binding and cross-opsonic activity against several S. aureus, E. faecium , and E. faecalis strains. The experimental design revealed several promising vaccine candidates, including the newly identified S. aureus antigen, AdcA au . The study shows its potential as a vaccine candidate to prevent infections by dangerous Gram-positive ESKAPE pathogens.
Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of gram-negative bacteria contaminating the hands of patients’ visitors at regional referral hospitals in Dar-es-Salaam
Background Hand contamination by bacteria is a significant source of infection transmission, especially in hospital settings. A healthcare-associated infection is one that a person contracts as a result of their interaction with a hospital. Health care workers’, patients’ and visitors’ hands are all transmission routes for infections, in particular bacterial infections. These infections elevate the economic burden on healthcare systems especially in low-income settings. Objective To determine the prevalence of gram-negative bacteria hand contamination among patients’ visitors of referral hospitals in Dar es Salaam. Methodology This was a cross-sectional study conducted at 3 regional referral hospitals: Amana, Temeke and Mwananyamala in March 2023. Dominant hand swabs from 388 systematically selected visitors were taken for bacterial culture and a short interview was conducted to assess factors associated with Gram-negative bacterial hand contamination. Hand swabs collected were cultured on Mac Conkey Agar (MCA), isolates were identified by VITEK MS and appropriate antibiotics were employed in antibiotic susceptibility testing of the isolated Gram-negative bacteria. Results Prevalence of gram-negative bacterial contamination on visitors’ hands was 91 (21.1%) on entry and 103 (30.2%) on exit. The most common bacteria contamination was from Klebsiella pneumoniae on both entry and exit points, 37 (41%) and 57 (43%) respectively. Resistance to cephalosporins (Cefotaxime and Ceftriaxone) were the most pronounced. Proportion of ESBL-producing bacteria was significantly higher at exit than at entry. Bacterial contamination was associated with not washing hands APR = 1.5 (95% CI:1.03-2.17), offering services to the patient APR = 1.9 (95% CI:1.21-2.87) and longer hospital stays (more than 7 days) APR = 1.5 (95% CI:1.1-2.0). Conclusion To prevent the transmission of bacteria, it is important to emphasize hand hygiene and exposure limits for visitors entering hospital environments.
Level of overweight and obesity surpassed underweight among women in 40 low and middle-income countries: Findings from a multilevel multinomial analysis of population survey data
Background Despite continued global and local initiatives to address nutritional problems, low- and middle-income countries are facing both malnutrition and non-communicable diseases, with about 80% of non-communicable disease-related deaths. There is a dearth of recent evidence on the extent and determinants of underweight, overweight, and obesity in this region, which is essential for guiding intervention programs. Thus, this study intended to provide insights into the current level of malnutrition among women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries. Methods A secondary analysis of Demographic and Health Survey data from 40 low- and middle-income countries was performed using a weighted sample of 1,044,340 women of reproductive age. Forest plots and line graph were used to present the pooled and regional estimates of underweight and overweight and obesity. A multilevel multinomial logistic regression models were fitted to identify determinants of malnutrition and models were compared based on the deviance and log-likelihood values. In the final model, statistical significance was determined using an adjusted relative risk ratio with the corresponding 95% confidence interval. Results The overall prevalence of obesity and overweight was 26.8% (95% CI: 26.7%–26.9%), with the highest rate in Jordan (67.2%) and lowest in Burundi (9.5%). Additionally, the level of underweight was found to be 15.6% [95% CI: 15.5%–15.7%], ranging from 1.3% in Jordan to 25.4% in Timor-Leste. Women of families with middle and rich wealth indexes, those aged 25–34 and 35–49, contraceptive users, those with primary and higher education, and urban residents were more likely to be overweight or obese. In contrast, the results showed a lower likelihood of undernutrition among women in the households with middle [ARRR (95% CI): 0.83 (0.80–0.86)] and rich wealth indexes [ARRR (95% CI): 0.73 (0.71–0.76)], those with primary [ARRR (95% CI): 0.70 (0.68–0.73)], secondary [ARRR (95% CI): 0.71 (0.69–0.74)], and higher education [ARRR (95% CI): 0.57 (0.53–0.61))], and women with media access [ARRR (95% CI): 0.79 (0.77–0.82)]. Conclusion Over a quarter of women of reproductive age in LMICs were overweight or obese, with underweight affecting 15.6%. It was also found that the levels of overweight and obesity were higher than the rate for underweight, with wide variations across the countries. Thus, efforts to improve the modifiable risks can have a positive impact on reducing undernutrition and over-nutrition. Given the considerable variations between countries and survey periods, nutrition programs should also be tailored to the specific needs and cultural contexts of different regions within the study settings. Furthermore, the findings suggest the need for regular monitoring and evaluation of the existing nutritional interventions to assess their effectiveness.
Deep phenotyping to understand hearing and hearing disorders: Protocol for a feasibility study
Globally, hearing loss affects around 1.5 billion people, while tinnitus is estimated to impact around 740 million. More research is urgently needed to address the challenges presented by hearing loss, tinnitus, and other hearing-related conditions. Our plans for a Nottingham Hearing BioResource, providing research-willing volunteers and comprehensive tests of hearing and ear health repeated over time, has the potential to accelerate the field. The protocol described here is a feasibility study for this BioResource, specifically addressing questions of recruitment from the general population (i.e., outside of clinical audiology services or pathways). Participants with or without known hearing problems will be recruited for data collection. This study will quantify how feasible it will be to recruit and retain a large sample of the general population, and will suggest the demographic, and hearing condition status, distributions we could achieve for the BioResource. Data collection will involve a health and lifestyle questionnaire; cognitive assessment; five questionnaires about hearing loss, tinnitus, and hyperacusis; an estimation of lifetime noise exposure; a suite of in-depth audiological tests; and taking a hair sample. The same measurements will be taken on two separate occasions in person, and a third set of overlapping measurements will be taken remotely. Repeating the data collection will allow us to evaluate participant retention rates and establish the reliability of the measures. The findings from this feasibility study will allow us to assess which channels work well to recruit a diverse pool of participants, which, when used in conjunction with recruitment from clinic, will provide the basis for a recruitment strategy for our BioResource. In addition, we will gain useful insight into whether specific tests or questionnaires used in the feasibility study are suitable for inclusion in a deep phenotyping protocol.
Accurate disaster entity recognition based on contextual embeddings in self-attentive BiLSTM-CRF
Automated extraction of disaster-related named entities is crucial for gathering pertinent information during natural or human-made crises. Timely and reliable data is vital for effective disaster management, benefiting humanitarian response authorities, law enforcement agencies, and other concerned organizations. Online news media plays a pivotal role in disseminating crisis-related information during emergencies and facilitating post-hazard disaster response operations. To extract relevant named entities, contextual embedding features prove instrumental. In this study, we investigate the automatic extraction of disaster-related named entities from an annotated dataset of 1000 online news articles. These articles are carefully annotated with 14 crisis-specific entities obtained from relevant ontologies. To generate contextual vector representations of words, we construct a novel word embedding model inspired by Word2vec. These contextual word embedding features, combined with lexicon features, are encoded using a novel contextualized deep Bi-directional LSTM network augmented with self-attention and conditional random field (CRF) layers. We compare the performance of our proposed model with existing word embedding approaches. Through extensive evaluation on an independent test set of 200 articles that includes more than 80,000 tokens, our context-sensitive optimized NER model achieves impressive results at the sentence level. With a Precision of 92%, Recall of 91%, Accuracy of 87%, and an F1-score of 92%, our model outperforms those utilizing general and non-contextual word embeddings, including fine-tuned and contextual BERT models, showcasing its superior performance.
Behaviour-based movement cut-off points in 3-year old children comparing wrist- with hip-worn actigraphs MW8 and GT3X
Background Behaviour-based physical intensity evaluation requires rigorous calibration before application in long-term recordings of children’s sleep/activity patterns. This study aimed at (i) calibrating activity counts of motor behaviour measured simultaneously with MotionWatch 8 (MW8) and ActiGraph (GT3X) in 3-year-old children, (ii) documenting movement intensities in 30s-epochs at wrist/hip positions, and (iii) evaluating the accuracy of cut-off agreements between different behavioural activities. Methods Thirty 3-year-old children of the NorthPop cohort performed six directed behavioural activities individually, each for 8–10 minutes while wearing two pairs of devices at hip and wrist position. These naturally-occurring behaviours were aligned to movement intensities from ‘motionless’ (watching cartoons) and ‘sedentary’ (recumbent story listening, sit and handcraft) to ‘light activity’ (floor play with toys), ‘moderate activity’ (engaging in a brisk walk) and ‘vigorous activity (a sprinting game). Time-keeping was ensured using direct observation by an observer. Receiver-Operating-Curve classification was applied to determine activity thresholds and to assign two composite movement classes. Results Activity counts of MW8 and GT3X pairs of wrist-worn (rho = 0.94) and hip-worn (rho = 0.90) devices correlated significantly (p < 0.001). Activity counts at hip position were significantly lower compared to those at the wrist position (p < 0.001), irrespective of device type. Sprinting, floorball/walk and floorplay assigned as ‘physically mobile’ classes achieved outstanding accuracy (AUC > 0.9) and two sedentary and a motionless activities assigned into ‘physically stationary’ classes achieved excellent accuracy (AUC > 0.8). Conclusion This calibration provides useful cut-offs for physical activity levels of preschool children. Contextual information of behaviour is advantageous over intensity classifications only, because interventions will focus on behaviour-allocated time to reduce a sedentary lifestyle. Our comparative calibration is one step forward to behaviour-based movement guidelines for 3-year-old children.