Total

BACKGROUND: In Ethiopia, malnutrition is a public health threat causing a significant burden of morbidity, mortality, and economic crisis. Simultaneously, khat consumption is alarmingly increasing among adults, yet it might contribute to the existing burden of malnutrition, where the current evidence is inconclusive. Hence, this review was to estimate the association between khat consumption and undernutrition among adults in Ethiopia. METHODS: A comprehensive search for Google, Google Scholar, and PubMed, coupled with a thorough manual search of the literature, was done up to date, October 18, 2023, using relevant search terms: "impact," "effects," "khat chewing," "khat consumption," "Ethiopia," "nutritional status," and "undernutrition...

Worldwide vitamin D insufficiency is remarkably prevalent in both children and adults, including pregnant women. The total amount of the vitamin is best measured by 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25(OH)D), which is a measurement of total serum cholecalciferol 25(OH)D3 and ergocalciferol 25(OH)D2. There is a known correlation between maternal and umbilical cord blood (UCB) 25(OH)D; however, whether specific maternal demographics or comorbidities influence the correlation remains uncertain. This prospective observational study was designed to study if maternal 25(OH)D levels, maternal age and BMI, amount of supplementation, mode of delivery, diabetes, hypertension/preeclampsia, or sunlight exposure had an impact on the correlation...

BACKGROUND: Central catheter bloodstream infections (CRBSI) is a major cause of healthcare-associated infections. However, few factors are generally accepted and some studies have conflicting finding about some factors, possibly caused by limitation associated with an individual study. This study was to identify risk factors for CRBSI in intensive care units. METHODS: We searched the PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of science and EMBASE databases and the 4 top Chinese-language databases, including WanFang data, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Chinese Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), China Biology Medicine disc (CBM) as of July 2023...

INTRODUCTION: Burns are tissue traumas caused by energy transfer and occur with a variable inflammatory response. The consequences of burns represent a public health problem worldwide. Inhalation injury (II) is a severity factor when associated with burn, leading to a worse prognosis. Its treatment is complex and often involves invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). The primary purpose of this study will be to assess the evidence regarding the frequency and mortality of II in burn patients...

AIM: This study aims to explore regional variation and identify regions within Australia with high incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and low rates of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). METHOD: Adult OHCAs of presumed medical aetiology occurring across Australia between 2017 and 2019 were mapped onto local government areas (LGA) using the location of arrest coordinates. Bayesian spatial models were applied to provide "smoothed" estimates of OHCA incidence and bystander CPR rates (for bystander-witnessed OHCAs) for each LGA...

BACKGROUND: Youth who experience homelessness engage in behaviors that place them at high risk for disease and injury. Despite their health risk behaviors, these youth display psychological capital, positive attributes of hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism that motivate them to engage in health-promoting behaviors such as safer sex. However, this array of positive psychological attributes has not been studied in this vulnerable population. OBJECTIVES: The specific aim of this analysis was to determine whether factors of psychological capital mediated the relationship between background risk factors (e...

BACKGROUND: Thyroid nodules are common in the general population. Ultrasonography is the most efficient diagnostic approach to evaluate thyroid nodules. The US FNAC procedure can be performed using either the short axis (perpendicular), or a long axis (parallel) approach to visualize the needle as it is advanced toward the desired nodule. The main aim of this study was to compare the percentage of non-diagnostic results between the long and short axis approach. METHODS: A prospective study that included a randomized controlled trial and was divided into two arms-the short axis and the long axis-was conducted...

We previously showed that macrophage-like cells (MLCs) are increased in eyes with advanced diabetic retinopathy (DR). Here, we hypothesized that MLC density was correlated with ischemia using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and ultra-widefield fluorescein angiography (UWF-FA). Treatment-naïve diabetic eyes were prospectively imaged with repeated OCTA (average 5.3 scans per eye) and UWF-FA imaging. OCTA images were registered and averaged to generate a superficial capillary plexus (SCP), deep capillary plexus (DCP), and MLC slab...

OBJECTIVE: To describe the background, methodology, and results of the congressionally mandated Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Veterans Health Registry. SETTING: Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and Veterans Benefit Administration (VBA). PARTICIPANTS: A total of 441 639 Veterans of post-9/11 conflicts who exhibited symptoms associated with TBI and sought care or benefits from the VA between September 2001 and September 2021...

High-efficiency deep learning (DL) models are necessary not only to facilitate their use in devices with limited resources but also to improve resources required for training. Convolutional neural networks (ConvNets) typically exert severe demands on local device resources and this conventionally limits their adoption within mobile and embedded platforms. This brief presents work toward utilizing static convolutional filters generated from the space of local binary patterns (LBPs) and Haar features to design efficient ConvNet architectures...

BACKGROUND: Few interventions for food addiction (FA) report on dietary intake variables. The present study comprised a three-arm randomised controlled trial in adults with symptoms of FA. The aim was to evaluate dietary intake, sleep and physical activity resulting from a dietitian-led telehealth intervention at 3 months. METHODS: Adults with ≥3 symptoms of FA and a body mass index > 18.5 kg/m2 were recruited. Dietary intake including energy, nutrients and diet quality were assessed by a validated food frequency questionnaire in addition to sleep quality and physical activity (total min) and compared between groups and over time...

Penn State University is developing a pediatric total artificial heart (pTAH) as a bridge-to-transplant device that supports infants and small children with single ventricle anomalies or biventricular heart failure to address high waitlist mortality rates for patients with severe congenital heart disease. Two issues with mechanical circulatory support devices are thrombus formation and thromboembolic events. This in vitro study characterizes flow within Penn State's pTAH under physiological operating conditions...

PURPOSE: This study aimed to assess the performance of a deep learning algorithm (YOLOv5) in detecting different mandibular fracture types in panoramic images. METHODS: This study utilized a dataset of panoramic radiographic images with mandibular fractures. The dataset was divided into training, validation, and testing sets, with 60%, 20%, and 20% of the images, respectively. An equal number of control panoramic radiographs, which did not contain any fractures, were also randomly distributed among the three sets...

BACKGROUNDPersistent cough and dyspnea are prominent features of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (also termed 'Long COVID'); however, physiologic measures and clinical features associated with these pulmonary symptoms remain poorly defined. Using longitudinal pulmonary function testing (PFTs) and CT imaging, this study aimed to identify the characteristics and determinants of pulmonary Long COVID.METHODSThis single-center retrospective study included 1,097 patients with clinically defined Long COVID characterized by persistent pulmonary symptoms (dyspnea, cough, and chest discomfort) lasting for ≥1 month after resolution of primary COVID infection...

BACKGROUND: Schools in the United Kingdom and elsewhere are expected to protect and promote pupil mental health. However, many school staff members do not feel confident in identifying and responding to pupil mental health difficulties and report wanting additional training in this area. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to explore the feasibility of Kognito's At-Risk for Elementary School Educators, a brief, interactive web-based training program that uses a simulation-based approach to improve school staff's knowledge and skills in supporting pupil mental health...

BACKGROUND: Patient-accessible electronic health records (PAEHRs) are assumed to enhance the quality of care, expressed in terms of safety, effectiveness, timeliness, person centeredness, efficiency, and equity. However, research on the impact of PAEHRs on the perceived quality of care among parents, children, and adolescents is largely lacking. In the Netherlands, a PAEHR (Iuvenelis) was developed for preventive child health care and youth care. Parents and adolescents had access to its full content, could manage appointments, ask questions, and comment on written reports...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: In this study, we used a national cohort of patients with Wilson's disease (WD) to investigate the admissions, mortality rates, and costs over the captured period to assess specific subpopulations at higher burden. METHODS: Patients with WD were selected using 2016-2019 National Inpatient Sample (NIS). The weighted estimates and patient data were stratified using demographics and medical characteristics. Regression curves were graphed to derive goodness-of-fit for each trend from which R2 and P values were calculated...

BACKGROUND: Dysphagia, a common complication after stroke, significantly hampers the recovery process of patients, both due to dysphagia itself and the additional complications it causes. Although a large number of articles have been published on post-stroke dysphagia (PSD), bibliometric analysis in this field is still lacking. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the research hotspots and trends in PSD, thereby guiding future research efforts. METHODS: The Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database was searched for articles related to PSD from 2003 to 2022...

INTRODUCTION: Stoma site incisional hernias (SSIHs) are associated with substantial long-term morbidity, and the rate can be as high as 30% to 40%. Recent efforts using prophylactic mesh reinforcement (PMR) to reduce the development of hernias have shown encouraging outcomes. The objective of this study was to assess the use of prophylactic biosynthetic mesh at the time of stoma reversal on the overall SSIH rate. METHODS: This is an observational retrospective cohort study...

BACKGROUND: The extant literature suggests that women are more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection and at higher risk for developing long COVID. Due to pandemic mitigation recommendations, social media was relied upon for various aspects of daily life, likely with differences of usage between genders. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the role and functions of social media in the lives of long-hauler women. METHODS: Participants were purposively snowball-sampled from an online health promotion intervention for long-hauler women with COVID-19 from March to June 2021...