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BACKGROUND: 31.4 million people in low- and middle-income countries die from chronic diseases annually, particularly in Africa. To address this, strategies such as task-shifting from doctors to nurses have been proposed and have been endorsed by the World Health Organization as a potential solution; however, no comprehensive review exists describing the extent of nurse-led chronic disease management in Africa. AIMS: This study aimed to provide a thorough description of the current roles of nurses in managing chronic diseases in Africa, identify their levels of knowledge, the challenges, and gaps they encounter in this endeavor...

Unfair competition on internet platforms (UCIP) has become a critical issue restricting the platform economy's healthy development. This paper applies evolutionary game theory to study how to utilize multiple subjects' synergy to supervise UCIP effectively. First, the "multi-agent co-governance" mode of UCIP is constructed based on the traditional "unitary supervision" mode. Second, the government and internet platform evolutionary game models are built under two supervision modes. Finally, MATLAB is used to simulate and analyze the evolutionary stage and parameter sensitivity...

BACKGROUND: CircTADA2A has been demonstrated to play critical roles in the occurrence and development of human cancer. However, the expression pattern and biological mechanisms of circTADA2A in melanoma remains largely unknown. METHODS: CircTADA2A were detected by quantitative real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) and validated by Sanger sequencing. Function of circTADA2A and its protein partner in melanoma cells was investigated using RNA interference and overexpression assays...

Herpesviruses have two distinct life cycle stages, latency and lytic replication. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a gamma-herpesvirus, establishes latency in vivo and in cultured cells. Cell lines harboring latent EBV can be induced into the lytic cycle by treatment with chemical inducing agents. In the Burkitt lymphoma cell line HH514-16 the viral lytic cycle is triggered by butyrate, a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor. Butyrate also alters expression of thousands of cellular genes. However, valproic acid (VPA), another HDAC inhibitor with global effects on cellular gene expression blocks EBV lytic gene expression in Burkitt lymphoma cell lines...

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a significant contributor to the global burden of non-communicable disease. Early intervention may facilitate slowing down of progression of CKD; recognition of at-risk patient groups may improve detection through screening. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of 960 patients attending a specialist nephrology outpatient clinic during the period 1 January 2011-31 December 2021. A significant proportion (47.8%) of patients were referred with established CKD stage G4 or G5...

The performance of apparently biocompatible implanted bovine bone grafts may be compromised by unresolved chronic inflammation, and poor graft incorporation leading to implant failure. Monitoring the intensity and duration of the inflammatory response caused by implanted bone grafts is crucial. In this study, the ability of demineralized (DMB) and decellularized (DCC) bovine bone substitutes in initiating inflammatory responses to peripheral blood monocyte-derived macrophages (PBMMs) was investigated. The response of PBMMs to bone substitutes was evaluated by using both direct and indirect cell culture, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, apoptosis, immunophenotyping, and cytokine production...

3-Bromofluoranthene (3-BrFlu) is the secondary metabolite of fluoranthene, which is classified as a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, through bromination and exists in the fine particulate matter of air pollutants. Endothelial dysfunction plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular and vascular diseases. Little is known about the molecular mechanism of 3-BrFlu on endothelial dysfunction in vivo and in vitro assay. In the present study, 3-BrFlu included concentration-dependent changes in ectopic angiogenesis of the sub-intestinal vein and dilation of the dorsal aorta in zebrafish...

The post-retrieval extinction paradigm, rooted in reconsolidation theory, holds promise for enhancing extinction learning and addressing anxiety and trauma-related disorders. This study investigates the impact of two reminder types, mild US-reminder (US-R) and CS-reminder (CS-R), along with a no-reminder extinction, on fear recovery prevention in a categorical fear conditioning paradigm. Scalp EEG recordings during reminder and extinction processes were conducted in a three-day design. Results show that the US-R group exhibits a distinctive extinction learning pattern, characterized by a slowed-down yet successful process and pronounced theta-alpha desynchronization (source-located in the prefrontal cortex) during CS processing, followed by enhanced synchronization (source-located in the anterior cingulate) after shock cancellation in extinction trials...

We report the development of an optimized 50-color spectral flow cytometry panel designed for the in-depth analysis of the immune system in human blood and tissues, with the goal of maximizing the amount of information that can be collected using currently available flow cytometry platforms. We established and tested this panel using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), but included CD45 to enable its future use for the analysis of human tissue samples. The panel contains lineage markers for all major immune cell subsets, and an extensive set of phenotyping markers focused on the activation and differentiation status of the T cell and dendritic cell (DC) compartment...

Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors are metabotropic G-protein coupled receptors. Muscarinic receptors in the cardiovascular system play a central role in its regulation. Particularly M2 receptors slow down the heart rate by reducing the impulse conductivity through the atrioventricular node. In general, activation of muscarinic receptors has sedative effects on the cardiovascular system, including vasodilation, negative chronotropic and inotropic effects on the heart, and cardioprotective effects, including antifibrillatory effects...

AIM: This study aimed to investigate the expression of H19 and its possible molecular mechanism in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: The expression of H19 and miR-19b in serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were detected by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed to evaluate the diagnostic value of serum H19 in SLE. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to analyze the correlation between serum levels of H19 and miR-19b...

Krüppel-like factor 13 (KLF13), a zinc finger transcription factor, is considered as a potential regulator of cardiomyocyte differentiation and proliferation during heart morphogenesis. However, its precise role in the dedifferentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) during atherosclerosis and neointimal formation after injury remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the relationship between KLF13 and SM22α expression in normal and atherosclerotic plaques by bioanalysis, and observed a significant increase in KLF13 levels in the atherosclerotic plaques of both human patients and ApoE-/- mice...

BACKGROUND: The economic burden of chronic psychotic disorders is substantial. However, few studies have employed an incidence based approach to estimate the economic burden of chronic psychotic disorders. Furthermore, the existing work has mainly used models populated with data obtained from published literature, making several assumptions to estimate incidence-based costs. AIMS OF THE STUDY: The objective of this study was to estimate the direct cumulative mean health care costs of chronic psychotic disorders, using an incidence-based, cost-of-illness approach and real-world data from a single-payer health care system...

OBJECTIVE: Neuronal precursor cells expressed developmentally down-regulated 4 (Nedd4) are believed to play a critical role in promoting the degradation of substrate proteins and are involved in numerous biological processes. However, the role of Nedd4 in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) remains unknown. This study aims to investigate the regulatory role of Nedd4 in the ICH model. METHODS: Male C57BL/6J mice were induced with ICH. Subsequently, the levels of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, iron content, mitochondrial morphology, as well as the expression of divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1) and Nedd4 were assessed after ICH...

Flow sensing exhibits significant potential for monitoring, controlling, and optimizing processes in industries, resource management, and environmental protection. However, achieving wireless real-time and omnidirectional sensing of gas/liquid flow on a simple, self-contained device without external power support has remained a formidable challenge. In this study, a compact-sized, fully self-powered wireless sensing flowmeter (CSWF) is introduced with a small size diameter of down to less than 50 mm, which can transmit real-time and omnidirectional wireless signals, as driven by a rotating triboelectric nanogenerator (R-TENG)...

DNA origami is a flexible platform for the precise organization of nano-objects, enabling numerous applications from biomedicine to nano-photonics. Its huge potential stems from its high flexibility that allows customized structures to meet specific requirements. The ability to generate diverse final structures from a common base by folding significantly enhances design variety and is regularly occurring in liquid. This study describes a novel approach that combines top-down lithography with bottom-up DNA origami techniques to control folding of the DNA origami with the adsorption on pre-patterned surfaces...

An objection to shifty epistemologies such as subject-sensitive invariantism is that it predicts that agents are susceptible to guaranteed losses. Bob Beddor (Analysis, 81, 193-198, 2021) argues that these guaranteed losses are not a symptom of irrationality, on the grounds that forgetful agents are susceptible to guaranteed losses without being irrational. I agree that forgetful agents are susceptible to guaranteed losses without being irrational- but when we investigate why, the analogy with shifty epistemology breaks down...

Congenital cryptorchidism, also known as undescended testis, is the condition where one or both testes are not in place in the scrotum at birth and is one of the most common birth defects in boys. Temporal trends and geographic variation in the prevalence of cryptorchidism from 1% to 9% have been reported in prospective cohort studies. The testes develop in the abdominal cavity and descend to the scrotum in two phases, which should be completed by gestational week 35. Thus, the risk of cryptorchidism is higher in preterm boys...

In this study, the effects on the structures and emulsion gels of carrageenan (CA) and gum arabic (GA) with soybean protein isolate (SPI) were investigated. The results showed that CA and GA exposed hydrophobic groups to SPI, and formed complexes through non-covalent interactions to improve the stability of the complexes. Furthermore, the emulsion gels based on the emulsions exhibited that CA formed emulsion-filled gels with higher elasticity, stronger gel strength, and thermal reversibility, whereas GA formed emulsion-aggregated gels with higher viscosity, and a weak-gel network...

This paper presents a workable vapour compression system (VCS) for evaluating the performance of a refrigeration system with an integrated condenser that uses a long-term alternative refrigerant to halocarbon as a heat transfer medium (R600a). India's refrigeration system uses halocarbon refrigerants due to their excellent thermophysical and thermodynamic properties. Greenhouse gas emissions from halocarbon refrigerants and fossil fuel combustion contribute to global warming that engenders climate change and the deterioration of the ecosystem...