Metta

BACKGROUND: In the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has become clear what relevance non-contact psychotherapeutic online interventions in mental health care could possibly have in the future. The present pilot study aims to test whether a Metta-based group program is also an acceptable and feasible treatment when conducted as video-based intervention. Metta meditations aim at showing unconditional benevolence and kindness to oneself and to other people. METHODS: Eight patients with depressive disorder participated in a video-based implementation of the Metta-based group program...

BACKGROUND: Women's childbirth experiences provide a unique understanding of care received in health facilities from their voices as they describe their needs, what they consider good and what should be changed. Quality Improvement interventions in healthcare are often designed without inputs from women as end-users, leading to a lack of consideration for their needs and expectations. Recently, quality improvement interventions that incorporate women's childbirth experiences are thought to result in healthcare services that are more responsive and grounded in the end-user's needs...

A crucial challenge in critical settings like medical diagnosis is making deep learning models used in decision-making systems interpretable. Efforts in Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) are underway to address this challenge. Yet, many XAI methods are evaluated on broad classifiers and fail to address complex, real-world issues, such as medical diagnosis. In our study, we focus on enhancing user trust and confidence in automated AI decision-making systems, particularly for diagnosing skin lesions, by tailoring an XAI method to explain an AI model's ability to identify various skin lesion types...

BACKGROUND: In a pilot study using both cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) as single agents in advanced cancer patients undergoing palliative care in Thailand, the doses were generally well tolerated, and the outcome measure of total symptom distress scores showed overall symptom benefit. The current study aims to determine the intensity of the symptoms experienced by breast cancer patients, to explore the microbiome profile, cytokines, and bacterial metabolites before and after the treatment with cannabis oil or no cannabis oil, and to study the pharmacokinetics parameters and pharmacogenetics profile of the doses...

The addition of 2 equiv of the phosphaylide H2 C═PPh3 to the dimethyl uranium metallocene Cp*2 UMe2 (Cp* = η5 -C5 Me5 ) in toluene with gentle heating at 40 °C generates the phosphorano-stabilized bis(carbene) Cp*2 U[C(H)PPh3 ]2 ( 1 ) in good yield. Characterization of 1 by X-ray crystallographic analysis reveals two short uranium-carbon bonds, ranging from 2.301(5) to 2.322(5) Å, consistent with the presence of U═C carbene-type bonds. Monitoring the reaction by NMR spectroscopy suggests that it proceeds through the intermediate formation of the methyl carbene complex Cp*2 U[C(H)PPh3 ](Me) ( 1 Int ); however, prolonged heating of these solutions leads to the ortho -cyclometalated carbene species Cp*2 U{κ2 -[C(H)PPh2 (C6 H4 )]} ( 2 ) via intramolecular C-H activation...

The reaction of Fe2 (mes)4 with the super-bulky amidines and guanidines HL Ar*-R (LAr*-R = [(Ar*N)2 C(R)]- , Ar* = 2,6-bis(diphenylmethyl)-4- tert -butylphenyl), R = Me ( L Ar*-Me ), t Bu ( L Ar*-tBu ), Ph ( L Ar*-Ph ), Ni Pr2 ( L Ar*-iPr2N ), and Pip ( L Ar*-Pip )) gives access to the three-coordinate iron-mesityl complexes (L Ar*-R )Fe(mes) only where LAr*-R = LAr*-Me , LAr*-Ph , or LAr*-Pip . Subsequent protonolysis with the N-atom transfer reagent Hdbabh (Hdbabh = 2,3:5,6-dibenzo-7-azabicyclo[2.2.1]hepta-2,5-diene) is limited in success, providing in one instance a few crystals of four-coordinate (L Ar*-Me )Fe(dbabh)(Hdbabh) , while three-coordinate (L Ar*-Pip )Fe(dbabh) is synthesized reproducibly...

BACKGROUND: Besides being commonly used to treat high blood pressure, beta blockers are a family of drugs that are primarily used to regulate irregular cardiac rhythms. Nebivolol is a third generation of beta blockers, which is highly cardioselective, about three times as selective as bisoprolol. In this study, we aimed to evaluate Nebivolol's effectiveness and safety in comparison to other beta blockers. METHODS: We searched the online databases PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Cochrane Library for relevant RCTs evaluating Nebivolol's effect on hypertension management...

Rising greenhouse gas levels heat the earth's surface and alter climate patterns, posing unprecedented threats to planetary ecology and human health. At the same time, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease have reached epidemic proportions across the globe, caused in part by decreases in physical activity and by over-consumption of carbon-intensive foods. Thus, interventions that support active transportation (walking or cycling rather than driving) and healthier food choices (eating plant-based rather than meat-based diets) would yield health and sustainability "co-benefits...

Ethylene, a plant hormone, is a gas that plays a crucial role in fruit ripening and senescence. In this work, a novel ethylene scavenger was prepared from amorphous silica-alumina derived from sugar cane bagasse ash (SC-ASA) and used to prolong the shelf life of mango fruits during storage. KMnO4 at 2, 4, or 6 wt %/w was loaded on SC-ASA using an impregnation method. The results showed that 4% w/w KMnO4 loaded on SC-ASA (4KM/SC-ASA) was superior for ethylene removal at an initial ethylene concentration of 400 μL L-1 for 120 min under ambient conditions (25-27 °C and 70-75% relative humidity), resulting in 100% ethylene removal...

BACKGROUND: For adults living with HIV (ALHIV) and comorbidities, access to comprehensive healthcare services is crucial to achieving optimal health outcomes. This study aims to describe lived experiences, challenges, and coping strategies for accessing care for hypertension and/or diabetes (HTN/DM) in HIV care and treatment clinics (CTCs) and other healthcare settings. METHODOLOGY: We conducted a qualitative study that employed a phenomenological approach between January and April 2022 using a semi-structured interview guide in six HIV CTCs in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania...

Background: Trauma-related guilt and shame are crucial for the development and maintenance of PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder). We developed an intervention combining cognitive techniques with loving-kindness meditations (C-METTA) that specifically target these emotions. C-METTA is an intervention of six weekly individual treatment sessions followed by a four-week practice phase. Objective: This study examined C-METTA in a proof-of-concept study within a randomized wait-list controlled trial. Method: We randomly assigned 32 trauma-exposed patients with a DSM-5 diagnosis to C-METTA or a wait-list condition (WL)...

We present an avatar system designed to facilitate the embodiment of humanoid robots by human operators, validated through iCub3, a humanoid developed at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia. More precisely, the paper makes two contributions: First, we present the humanoid iCub3 as a robotic avatar that integrates the latest significant improvements after about 15 years of development of the iCub series. Second, we present a versatile avatar system enabling humans to embody humanoid robots encompassing aspects such as locomotion, manipulation, voice, and facial expressions with comprehensive sensory feedback including visual, auditory, haptic, weight, and touch modalities...

OBJECTIVES: The incidence of human papillomavirus positive oropharyngeal cancer (HPV+OPC) is increasing, and new biomarkers are required to better define prognostic groups and guide treatment. Infiltrating T cells have been well studied in head and neck cancer, however the presence and role of B cells and tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) in the tumor microenvironment has not, even though the interplay between T and B cells is increasingly being recognised. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using CD20 immunohistochemistry (IHC) to identify B cells and TLS in a cohort of 159 HPV + OPC patients, we semi-quantitatively scored abundance and location (intra-tumoral or stromal) and correlated findings with patient survival...

Oxides of silicon (Si), manganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn) have been used as soil amendments to reduce As mobility and uptake in paddy soil systems. However, these amendments are hypothesized to be affected differently depending on the soil pH and their effect on As speciation in rice paddy systems is not fully understood. Herein, we used a microcosm experiment to investigate the effects of natural Si-rich fly ash and synthetic Mn and Zn oxides on the temporal development of porewater chemistry, including aqueous As speciation (As(III), As(V), MMA, DMA, and DMMTA) and solid-phase As solubility, in a naturally calcareous soil with or without soil acidification (with sulfuric acid) during 28 days of flooding and a subsequent 14 days of drainage...

BACKGROUND: HIV Early Infant Diagnosis (HEID) is critical for the timely initiation of HIV treatments and improved health outcomes among HIV-infected infants. However, the uptake of HEID remains largely low in Tanzania. This descriptive scoping review of evidence on HEID among HIV-exposed infants in Tanzania seeks to understand the dynamics of HEID, ART use and adherence to inform targeted interventions and promote its uptake. METHODS: The Arksey and O'Malley's methodological framework guided this scoping review...

Nosocomial infections are infections that are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among hospitalized patients, and can lead to higher healthcare costs and longer hospital stays in both developed and developing countries. The objectives of the study were to identify the level of knowledge and perception of patients on nosocomial infection, and to determine the factors affecting the knowledge and perception of patients on nosocomial infection in Federal Medical Centre, Ebute-Metta, Lagos (FMC). A cross-sectional research design was used in carrying out the research among in-patients of FMC where an interview-based semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection...

Advanced Parkinson's Disease (APD) is complicated by the emergence of motor and non-motor fluctuations, which are initially predictable and eventually become unpredictable, in part due to erratic gastric absorption and short half of oral levodopa. Attempts to manage such fluctuations with oral dopaminergic drugs often lead to disabling dyskinesias. Continuous Subcutaneous Apomorphine Infusion (CSAI), despite being approved for the treatment of APD since 1993, was approved in India only in 2019. We studied the safety, tolerability and efficacy of CSAI in Indian patients with APD in a registry design to raise local awareness of this important treatment...

This study aims to analyze multi-metals in marine sediment to provide the relative nature of metal concentrations. Sediment samples were collected in representative coasts of natural and more developing zones. The Sequential Extraction method was used to treat four metal associated hosts determined using the ICP-OES. Geo-accumulation index, Enrichment Factor and Principal Component analysis were used to evaluate. The metal concentrations varied and most of them appeared to show a gradual decrease from east, west to the isle coasts...

BACKGROUND: Increasing access to smartphones in sub-Saharan Africa offers an opportunity to leverage mobile health (mHealth) technology to improve access to health care in underserved populations. In the domain of HIV prevention, mHealth interventions can potentially contribute to solving the challenges of suboptimal adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and low retention in PrEP services among populations most vulnerable to HIV acquisition. However, there is a gap in the knowledge about the use of such interventions in sub-Saharan Africa...

The greenhouse gas reduction as well as the utilization of more renewable and clean energy via a dry reforming reaction is of interest. The impact of a CeMgZnAl oxide quad-blend-supported Ni catalyst on performance and anticoking during dry reforming reactions at 700 °C was studied. A high Ce-Mg/Zn ratio, as seen in the CeMg0.5ZnAl-supported nickel catalyst, enhances lattice oxygen, and the presence of strong basic sites, along with the creation of the carbonate intermediate species, is accompanied by the production of gaseous CO through a gasification reaction between the carbon species and Ni-COads-lin site...