Assessment tool

AIMS: This study seeks to investigate ADHD symptoms and impulsivity among individuals diagnosed with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) who also exhibit symptoms of Problematic Internet Use (PIU). METHODS: The study involved the participation of 360 Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) patients enrolled at an Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment Center (ADATC) during the period from October to December 2022. Various assessment tools were administered, including Young's Internet Addiction Scale (YIAS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS), and Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS)...

BACKGROUND: In the global strategy to eliminate leprosy, there remains a need for early case detection to successfully interrupt transmissions. Poor knowledge about leprosy and leprosy-related stigma are key drivers of delayed diagnosis and treatment. Sensitization campaigns to inform and increase awareness among the general population are an integral part of many national neglected tropical disease programs. Despite their importance, the effectiveness of such campaigns has not been rigorously studied in the West African context...

Radiomics, the science of extracting quantifiable data from routine medical images, is a powerful tool that has many potential applications in oncology. The Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors Working Group (RWG) held a workshop in May 2022, which brought together various stakeholders to discuss the potential role of radiomics in oncology drug development and clinical trials, particularly with respect to response assessment. This article summarizes the results of that workshop, reviewing radiomics for the practicing oncologist and highlighting the work that needs to be done to move forward the incorporation of radiomics into clinical trials...

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) pose a significant challenge due to their diverse, often debilitating, and unpredictable clinical manifestations. The absence of prognostic tools to anticipate the future complications that require therapy intensification presents a substantial burden to patient private life and health. We aimed to explore whether the gut microbiome is a potential biomarker for future therapy intensification in a cohort of 90 IBD patients. METHODS: We conducted whole-genome metagenomics sequencing on fecal samples from these patients, allowing us to profile the taxonomic and functional composition of their gut microbiomes...

PURPOSE: Post-operative vision impairment is common among patients who have undergone cataract surgery in low-resource settings, impacting quality of clinical outcomes and patient experience. This prospective, multisite, single-armed, pragmatic validation study aimed to assess whether receiving tailored recommendations via the free Better Operative Outcomes Software Tool (BOOST) app improved surgical outcomes, as quantified by post-operative unaided distance visual acuity (UVA) measured 1-3 days after surgery...

OBJECTIVES: The waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) is a simple, practical, and effective tool used to assess central obesity. Despite its usefulness, few studies have investigated the association between WHtR and cognitive function among older adults in the United States. This study aims to investigate the associations between WHtR and cognitive function. METHODS: The study sample comprised adults who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2011 and 2014...

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally, making the development of non-invasive and simple-to-use tools that bring insights into the state of the cardiovascular system of utmost importance. We investigated the possibility of using peripheral pulse wave recordings to estimate stroke volume (SV) and subject-specific parameters describing the selected properties of the cardiovascular system. Peripheral pressure waveforms were recorded in the radial artery using applanation tonometry (SphygmoCor) in 35 hemodialysis (HD) patients and 14 healthy subjects...

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has become a significant health crisis, marked by high mortality rates on a global scale, with mortality from the disease being notably concentrated among the elderly due to various factors. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the biological and non-biological factors associated with COVID-19 mortality rates among the elderly worldwide. METHODS: The following databases will be consulted: PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science and ScienceDirect...

Incidence of endometrial cancer (EC) is rising in the developed world. The current standard of care, hysterectomy, is often infeasible for younger patients and those with high body mass index. There are limited non-surgical treatment options and a lack of biologically relevant research models to investigate novel alternatives to surgery for EC. The aim of the present study was to develop a long-term, patient-derived explant (PDE) model of early-stage EC and demonstrate its use for investigating predictive biomarkers for a current non-surgical treatment option, the levonorgestrel intra-uterine system (LNG-IUS)...

INTRODUCTION: Ethiopia is experiencing high prevalence of occupational morbidity and disability. One of the main contributing reasons is a low utilization of personal protective equipment (PPE). Previous studies on PPE utilization and association with educational status among industry workers were largely inconsistent. Therefore, this meta-analysis is aimed to pool the magnitude of PPE utilization and its association with educational status among industry workers in Ethiopia. METHOD: A compressive search of international databases and libraries including Scopus, PubMed, MedNar, Embase, MEDLINE, the web of science, Google Scholar, the JBI Library, African Journals Online, and Science direct will be carried out to locate published reports...

In order to understand the impacts in the post-disaster scenario of the 2017 El Niño events in the Piura region-Peru, we examined post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), food insecurity (FI), and social capital (SC) across three-time points in mothers in highly affected areas. In the Piura, Castilla, and Catacaos districts, we studied mothers combining mixed-method assessments at three (June-July 2017), eight and 12 months after the flooding. Each outcome was measured with the PTSD-Checklist-Civilian (PCL-C), the Household-Food-Insecurity-Access-Scale (HFIAS), the Adapted-Social-Capital-Assessment-Tool (SASCAT) surveys...

INTRODUCTION: Telemedicine is a useful tool for decreasing hospital stress, patient suffering, ambulance needs, hospital anxiety, and costs while improving the standard of care. Nonetheless, the lack of awareness regarding telemedicine poses a barrier to its application, presenting several difficulties in underdeveloped nations like Ethiopia. This review evaluates Ethiopian-specific telemedicine knowledge and associated factors. METHODS: This systematic review was conducted using a search of several online databases in addition to the main databases, like Medline, PubMed, Scopus, and Science Direct...

BACKGROUND: The use of routinely collected health data for secondary research purposes is increasingly recognised as a methodology that advances medical research, improves patient outcomes, and guides policy. This secondary data, as found in electronic medical records (EMRs), can be optimised through conversion into a uniform data structure to enable analysis alongside other comparable health metric datasets. This can be achieved with the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership Common Data Model (OMOP-CDM), which employs a standardised vocabulary to facilitate systematic analysis across various observational databases...

BACKGROUND: Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV service is conceptualized as a series of cascades that begins with all pregnant women and ends with the detection of a final HIV status in HIV-exposed infants (HEIs). A low rate of cascade completion by mothers' results in an increased risk of HIV transmission to their infants. Therefore, this review aimed to understand the uptake and determinants of key PMTCT services cascades in East Africa. METHODS: We searched CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Scopus, and AIM databases using a predetermined search strategy to identify studies published from January 2012 through to March 2022 on the uptake and determinants of PMTCT of HIV services...

The paper presents an innovative computational framework for predictive solutions for simulating the spread of malaria. The structure incorporates sophisticated computing methods to improve the reliability of predicting malaria outbreaks. The study strives to provide a strong and effective tool for forecasting the propagation of malaria via the use of an AI-based recurrent neural network (RNN). The model is classified into two groups, consisting of humans and mosquitoes. To develop the model, the traditional Ross-Macdonald model is expanded upon, allowing for a more comprehensive analysis of the intricate dynamics at play...

BACKGROUND: The popularity of medical writing workshops highlights the need for a standard measurement tool to assess the impact of such workshops on participants' confidence in: 1- writing a standard article and 2- using optimal English language. Because such an instrument is not yet available, we undertook this study to devise and evaluate the first measurement tool to assess such confidence. METHOD: We created an item pool of 50 items by searching Medline, Embase, and Clarivate Analytics to find related articles, using our prior experience, and approaching the key informants...

Human kinases play essential and diverse roles in the cellular activities of maintaining homeostasis and growth. Genetic mutations in the genes encoding the kinases (or phosphotransferases) have been linked with various types of cancers. In this study, we cataloged mutations in 500 kinases genes in >65,000 individuals of global populations from the Human Genetic Diversity Project (HGDP) and ExAC databases, and assessed their potentially deleterious impact by using the in silico tools SIFT, Polyphen2, and CADD...

BACKGROUND: In traumatic brain injury patients (TBI) admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), agitation can lead to accidental removal of catheters, devices as well as self-extubation and falls. Actigraphy could be a potential tool to continuously monitor agitation. The objectives of this study were to assess the feasibility of monitoring agitation with actigraphs and to compare activity levels in agitated and non-agitated critically ill TBI patients. METHODS: Actigraphs were placed on patients' wrists; 24-hour monitoring was continued until ICU discharge or limitation of therapeutic efforts...

There is a critical need for widespread information dissemination of agricultural best practices in Africa. Literacy, language and resource barriers often impede such information dissemination. Culturally and linguistically localized, computer-animated training videos placed on YouTube and promoted through paid advertising is a potential tool to help overcome these barriers. The goal of this study is to assess the feasibility of reaching language-diverse populations in Africa using this new type of information dissemination channel...

Technology-facilitated sexual abuse refers to the use of information and communication technologies to facilitate both virtual and in-person sexual crimes. Research on this topic has focused on rates, risk factors, and consequences. This scoping review aims to understand whether and how forensic psychological procedures are adapted to assess adolescent victims and how Internet-based information might be useful as complementary data. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extensions for Scoping Reviews guidelines, searches were conducted in April 2023 in five electronic databases to include Portuguese, Spanish, or English quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method peer-reviewed studies...