Nevin Manimala

BMC Nutr. 2022 Sep 19;8(1):104. doi: 10.1186/s40795-022-00603-x.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The consequences of undernutrition have serious implication for the health and future reproductive periods of adolescent girls and young women aged 15-24 years. Inspite of this, they are neglected age groups and there is limited information about the nutritional status of this age group in Ethiopia. Therefore, estimating the extent and associated factors of undernutrition among adolescent girls and young women in a national context using multilevel analysis is essential.

METHODS: Secondary data analysis was conducted from the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey 2016. A total sample weight of 5362 adolescent girls and young women was included in this study. A multilevel mixed-effect binary logistic regression model with cluster-level random effects was fitted to determine the associated factors of undernutrition among adolescent girls and young women in Ethiopia. Finally, the odds ratios along with the 95% confidence interval was generated to determine the individual and community level factors of undernutrition. A p-value less than 0.05 was declared as the level of statistical significance.

RESULTS: Overall, 25.6% (95%CI: 24.5-26.9) of adolescent girls and young women were undernourished. Statistically significant individual level factors includes adolescent girls and young women aged 15-19 years (AOR: 1.53, 95%CI: 1.32-1.77), individual media exposure (AOR: 0.82, 95%CI: 0.69-0.97), and unprotected drinking water source (AOR: 1.24, 95%CI: 1.04-1.48). Whereas, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (AOR: 0.33, 95%CI: 0.13-0.83) and rural residence (AOR: 1.69, 95%CI: 1.24-2.32), were community level factors for adolescent girls and young women undernutrition.

CONCLUSION: One quarter of the Ethiopian adolescent girls and young women were undernourished. Therefore, the Ethiopian government should better engage this age group in different aspects of the food system. To improve nutritional status, public health interventions such as increased media exposure for rural residents and interventions that improve access to protected water sources will be critical.

PMID:36123733 | DOI:10.1186/s40795-022-00603-x

Respir Res. 2022 Sep 19;23(1):256. doi: 10.1186/s12931-022-02177-5.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic in The Netherlands, critically ill ventilated COVID-19 patients were transferred not only between hospitals by ambulance but also by the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS). To date, little is known about the physiological impact of helicopter transport on critically ill patients and COVID-19 patients in particular. This study was conducted to explore the impact of inter-hospital helicopter transfer on vital signs of mechanically ventilated patients with severe COVID-19, with special focus on take-off, midflight, and landing.

METHODS: All ventilated critically ill COVID-19 patients who were transported between April 2020 and June 2021 by the Dutch ‘Lifeliner 5’ HEMS team and who were fully monitored, including noninvasive cardiac output, were included in this study. Three 10-min timeframes (take-off, midflight and landing) were defined for analysis. Continuous data on the vital parameters heart rate, peripheral oxygen saturation, arterial blood pressure, end-tidal CO₂ and noninvasive cardiac output using electrical cardiometry were collected and stored at 1-min intervals. Data were analyzed for differences over time within the timeframes using one-way analysis of variance. Significant differences were checked for clinical relevance.

RESULTS: Ninety-eight patients were included in the analysis. During take-off, an increase was noticed in cardiac output (from 6.7 to 8.2 L min^-1; P < 0.0001), which was determined by a decrease in systemic vascular resistance (from 1071 to 739 dyne·s·cm^-5, P < 0.0001) accompanied by an increase in stroke volume (from 88.8 to 113.7 mL, P < 0.0001). Other parameters were unchanged during take-off and mid-flight. During landing, cardiac output and stroke volume slightly decreased (from 8.0 to 6.8 L min^-1, P < 0.0001 and from 110.1 to 84.4 mL, P < 0.0001, respectively), and total systemic vascular resistance increased (P < 0.0001). Though statistically significant, the found changes were small and not clinically relevant to the medical status of the patients as judged by the attending physicians.

CONCLUSIONS: Interhospital helicopter transfer of ventilated intensive care patients with COVID-19 can be performed safely and does not result in clinically relevant changes in vital signs.

PMID:36123727 | DOI:10.1186/s12931-022-02177-5

BMC Oral Health. 2022 Sep 19;22(1):408. doi: 10.1186/s12903-022-02452-3.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Myofascial pain syndrome with trigger points is the most common cause of nonodontogenic pain. Although injection of the trigger points is the most effective pain reduction treatment, many patients exhibit recurrence after a short period. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of magnesium sulfate injections in the treatment of the masseter muscle trigger points when compared to saline injections.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: This study randomly (1:1) assigned 180 patients to one of two treatment groups based on whether their trigger points were injected with 2 ml of saline or magnesium sulfate. Pain scores, maximum mouth opening (MMO), and quality of life were measured at the pre-injection and 1, 3, and 6 months post-injection.

RESULTS: The pain scores were significantly higher in the saline group during all follow-up assessments, whereas the MMO was significantly higher in the magnesium sulfate group up to 3 months of follow-up (p < 0.001). However, the difference in MMO ceased to be statistically significant after 6 months of follow-up (p = 0.121). Additionally, the patient’s quality of life score was significantly higher in the magnesium sulfate group compared to the saline group (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION: Injection of magnesium sulfate is an effective treatment measure for myofascial trigger points. However, further studies with a proper design addressing the limitations of the current study are necessary.

CLINICALTRIALS: org (ID: NCT04742140) 5/2/2021.

PMID:36123724 | DOI:10.1186/s12903-022-02452-3

Parasit Vectors. 2022 Sep 19;15(1):329. doi: 10.1186/s13071-022-05430-4.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: An innovative approach has been introduced for identifying and developing novel potent and safe anti-Babesia and anti-Theileria agents for the control of animal piroplasmosis. In the present study, we evaluated the inhibitory effects of Malaria Box (MBox) compounds (n = 8) against the growth of Babesia microti in mice and conducted bioinformatics analysis between the selected hits and the currently used antibabesial drugs, with far-reaching implications for potent combinations.

METHODS: A fluorescence assay was used to evaluate the in vivo inhibitory effects of the selected compounds. Bioinformatics analysis was conducted using hierarchical clustering, distance matrix and molecular weight correlation, and PubChem fingerprint. The compounds with in vivo potential efficacy were selected to search for their target in the piroplasm parasites using quantitative PCR (qPCR).

RESULTS: Screening the MBox against the in vivo growth of the B. microti parasite enabled the discovery of potent new antipiroplasm drugs, including MMV396693 and MMV665875. Interestingly, statistically significant (P < 0.05) downregulation of cysteine protease mRNA levels was observed in MMV665875-treated Theileria equi in vitro culture in comparison with untreated cultures. MMV396693/clofazimine and MMV665875/atovaquone (AV) showed maximum structural similarity (MSS) with each other. The distance matrix results indicate promising antibabesial efficacy of combination therapies consisting of either MMV665875 and AV or MMV396693 and imidocarb dipropionate (ID).

CONCLUSIONS: Inhibitory and hematology assay results suggest that MMV396693 and MMV665875 are potent antipiroplasm monotherapies. The structural similarity results indicate that MMV665875 and MMV396693 have a similar mode of action as AV and ID, respectively. Our findings demonstrated that MBox compounds provide a promising lead for the development of new antibabesial therapeutic alternatives.

PMID:36123705 | DOI:10.1186/s13071-022-05430-4

Infect Agent Cancer. 2022 Sep 19;17(1):50. doi: 10.1186/s13027-022-00463-x.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Bladder cancer is a challenging public health concern in South of Iran because of its high prevalence and the related medical expenses. Although the exact etiology of bladder cancer remains unknown, given the cell transforming ability and oncogenic potential of the members of Polyomaviridae families, this study was conducted to evaluate the magnitude of BK polyomavirus (BKPyV) and John Cunningham polyomavirus (JCPyV) among patients with bladder cancer residents in the northern shores of the Persian Gulf, South of Iran.

METHODS: Totally 211 patients with bladder cancer were enrolled in this study. Bladder biopsy samples of these patients and patients with interstitial cystitis as well as autoptic samples of healthy bladder were tested for detection of BKPyV and JCPyV by semi-nested PCR-RFLP followed by sequencing.

RESULTS: BKPyV and JCPyV were detected in 1.7% and 6.1% of bladder cancer samples, respectively. These samples were infected with JCPyV genotypes 2, 3 and 6 and BKPyV genotypes I and IV. BKPyV and JCPyV coinfection was detected in 2 samples. Moreover, one of the healthy bladder samples was positive for BKPyV, and one of the interstitial cystitis samples was positive for JCPyV. Although the majority of infected patients were in the age group 70-79 years, male, residents in Tangestan, stage Ta-T1, and low-grade and high-grade papillary urothelial carcinoma, the prevalence of BKPyV and JCPyV among patients with bladder cancer was not statistically associated with age, gender, place of residency, and stage and grade of the tumor.

CONCLUSION: Despite identifying BKPyV and JCPyV in a number of bladder cancer biopsy specimens and the high prevalence of bladder cancer among people resident in South of Iran, it is suggested that these viruses are unlikely to be effective causative factors in bladder carcinogenesis in this region. Therefore, environmental risk factors and genetic backgrounds may have a more prominent role than human polyomaviruses in the development of bladder cancer in South of Iran.

PMID:36123699 | DOI:10.1186/s13027-022-00463-x

Microb Cell Fact. 2022 Sep 19;21(1):197. doi: 10.1186/s12934-022-01922-1.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: CYP725A4 catalyses the conversion of the first Taxol® precursor, taxadiene, to taxadiene-5α-ol (T5α-ol) and a range of other mono- and di-hydroxylated side products (oxygenated taxanes). Initially known to undergo a radical rebound mechanism, the recent studies have revealed that an intermediate epoxide mediates the formation of the main characterised products of the enzyme, being T5α-ol, 5(12)-oxa-3(11)-cyclotaxane (OCT) and its isomer, 5(11)-oxa-3(11)-cyclotaxane (iso-OCT) as well as taxadienediols. Besides the high side product: main product ratio and the low main product titre, CYP725A4 is also known for its slow enzymatic activity, massively hindering further progress in heterologous production of Taxol® precursors. Therefore, this study aimed to systematically explore the key parameters for improving the regioselectivity and activity of eukaryotic CYP725A4 enzyme in a whole-cell eukaryotic biocatalyst, Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

RESULTS: Investigating the impact of CYP725A4 and reductase gene dosages along with construction of self-sufficient proteins with strong prokaryotic reductases showed that a potential uncoupling event accelerates the formation of oxygenated taxane products of this enzyme, particularly the side products OCT and iso-OCT. Due to the harmful effect of uncoupling products and the reactive metabolites on the enzyme, the impact of flavins and irons, existing as prosthetic groups in CYP725A4 and reductase, were examined in both their precursor and ready forms, and to investigate the changes in product distribution. We observed that the flavin adenine dinucleotide improved the diterpenoids titres and biomass accumulation. Hemin was found to decrease the titre of iso-OCT and T5α-ol, without impacting the side product OCT, suggesting the latter being the major product of CYP725A4. The interaction between this iron and the iron precursor, δ-Aminolevulinic acid, seemed to improve the production of these diterpenoids, further denoting that iso-OCT and T5α-ol were the later products. While no direct correlation between cellular-level oxidative stress and oxygenated taxanes was observed, investigating the impact of salt and antioxidant on CYP725A4 further showed the significant drop in OCT titre, highlighting the possibility of enzymatic-level uncoupling event and reactivity as the major mechanism behind the enzyme activity. To characterise the product spectrum and production capacity of CYP725A4 in the absence of cell growth, resting cell assays with optimal neutral pH revealed an array of novel diterpenoids along with higher quantities of characterised diterpenoids and independence of the oxygenated product spectra from the acidity effect. Besides reporting on the full product ranges of CYP725A4 in yeast for the first time, the highest total taxanes of around 361.4 ± 52.4 mg/L including 38.1 ± 8.4 mg/L of T5α-ol was produced herein at a small, 10-mL scale by resting cell assay, where the formation of some novel diterpenoids relied on the prior existence of other diterpenes/diterpenoids as shown by statistical analyses.

CONCLUSIONS: This study shows how rational strain engineering combined with an efficient design of experiment approach systematically uncovered the promoting effect of uncoupling for optimising the formation of the early oxygenated taxane precursors of Taxol®. The provided strategies can effectively accelerate the design of more efficient Taxol®-producing yeast strains.

PMID:36123694 | DOI:10.1186/s12934-022-01922-1

BMC Health Serv Res. 2022 Sep 19;22(1):1172. doi: 10.1186/s12913-022-08550-w.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: This study aims to identify the relationship between health literacy competencies and patient-centered care by clinical nurses.

METHODS: The participants were 180 nurses working at three university hospitals located in G City and J Province, South Korea. Self-evaluation questionnaires were used to collect data that were collected from June 1 to 30, 2021. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression with SPSS 26.0.

RESULTS: The mean of health literacy competencies was 3.19 (4 point scale) and the mean of patient-centered care was 3.48 (5 point scale). There were significant positive relationships between health literacy competencies and patient-centered care by clinical nurses (r = .50, p < .001). Factors influencing the health literacy competencies of clinical nurses were identified as education level (university) (β = .82), education level (masters) (β = .74), prior health literacy knowledge (β = .52), and health literacy competencies (β = .44). The explanatory power of this regression model was 36%, which was statistically significant (F = 17.65, p < .001).

CONCLUSION: Clinical nurses’ health literacy competencies should be developed to improve patient-centered care. Nursing education programs should emphasize the integration of health literacy into the nursing school curriculum.

PMID:36123686 | DOI:10.1186/s12913-022-08550-w

BMC Oral Health. 2022 Sep 19;22(1):409. doi: 10.1186/s12903-022-02448-z.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The study aimed to observe the effects of a Twinlight laser on the titanium surface proliferation of inflammatory Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), inflammatory cytokine expression, and osteogenic differentiation.

METHODS: The MSCs were collected from bone tissue of healthy individuals.The cellular inflammatory model was established with 1 μg/mL lipopolysaccharide (LPS).Under the cellular inflammatory model,divided into five groups: the normal control group (C); the inflammatory control group (L); Er:YAG laser group (L + E); Nd:YAG laser group (L + N); Er:YAG laser and Nd:YAG laser group (L + E + N). The treated cells were inoculated onto titanium disks.The normal and inflammatory MSCs on the surface of titanium surface were examined by CCK-8, scanning election microscopy (SEM), quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT‑PCR) and other methods for their proliferation, growth pattern, expression of inflammatory factors Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Interleukin-8 (IL-8) and osteogenic genes Runx2 (Runt-related transcription factor 2) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), providing the theoretical basis and experimental data for the Twinlight laser-assisted treatment of peri-implantitis. Statistical analyses were performed using a Student’s t test with SPSS 17.0 software.

RESULTS: Through observation using SEM, the cell densities of the L + E + N, L + E, and L + N groups were similar, but cell bodies in the L + E + N group were fuller and each had more than two pseudopodia. The expression level of IL-6 mRNA in the L, L + N, L + E, and L + E + N groups was higher than in group C (P < 0.05), and the expression level of IL-8 mRNA in the L + E + N group was significantly lower than in group L (P < 0.0001). On day 7, the expression level of ALP mRNA in the L, L + N, L + E, and L + E + N groups was lower than in group C (P < 0.05). On day 14, there was no significant difference in the expression level of ALP mRNA among the L + N, L + E + N, and C groups (P > 0.05). On day 7, the expression level of RUNX2 mRNA in the L + E + N group was higher than in group L (P < 0.001). On day 14, the expression level of RUNX2 mRNA in the L + E + N group was higher than in group L (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION: Twinlight laser treatment promoted cell proliferation, inhibited the expression of inflammatory cytokines, and effectively enhanced the osteogenic differentiation of cells on a titanium surface.

PMID:36123683 | DOI:10.1186/s12903-022-02448-z

BMC Public Health. 2022 Sep 20;22(1):1779. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-14153-1.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Cholera is a diarrheal disease caused by infection of the intestine with the gram-negative bacteria Vibrio cholera. It is caused by the ingestion of food or water and infected all age groups. This study aimed at identifying risk factors associated with cholera disease in Ethiopia using the Bayesian hierarchical model.

METHODS: The study was conducted in Ethiopia across regions and this study used secondary data obtained from the Ethiopian public health institute. Latent Gaussian models were used in this study; which is a group of models that contains most statistical models used in practice. The posterior marginal distribution of the Latent Gaussian models with different priors is determined by R-Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation.

RESULTS: There were 2790 cholera patients in Ethiopia across the regions. There were 81.61% of patients are survived from cholera outbreak disease and the rest 18.39% have died. There was 39% variation across the region in Ethiopia. Latent Gaussian models including random and fixed effects with standard priors were the best model to fit the data based on deviance. The odds of surviving from cholera outbreak disease for inpatient status are 0.609 times less than the outpatient status.

CONCLUSIONS: The authors conclude that the fitted latent Gaussian models indicate the predictor variables; admission status, aged between 15 and 44, another sick person in a family, dehydration status, oral rehydration salt, intravenous, and antibiotics were significantly associated with cholera outbreak disease.

PMID:36123680 | DOI:10.1186/s12889-022-14153-1

BMC Oral Health. 2022 Sep 19;22(1):412. doi: 10.1186/s12903-022-02431-8.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Mechanical surface treatments can deteriorate the mechanical properties of zirconia. This study evaluated and compared the biaxial flexural strength, fracture toughness, and fatigue resistance of high translucency (HT) to low translucency (LT) zirconia after various mechanical surface treatments.

METHODS: Four hundred eighty zirconia discs were prepared by milling and sintering two HT (Katana and BruxZir) and LT (Cercon and Lava) zirconia blocks at targeted dimensions of 12 mm diameter × 1.2 mm thickness. Sintered zirconia discs received one of the following surface treatments: low-pressure airborne particle abrasion (APA) using 50 µm alumina particles, grinding using 400 grit silicon carbide paper, while as-sintered specimens served as control. Internal structure and surface roughness were evaluated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a non-contact laser profilometer, respectively. Half of the discs were tested for initial biaxial flexural strength, while the rest was subjected to 10⁶ cyclic fatigue loadings, followed by measuring the residual biaxial flexural strength. Fractured surfaces were examined for critical size defects (c) using SEM to calculate the fracture toughness (K_IC). The effect of surface treatments, zirconia type, and cyclic fatigue on the biaxial flexural strength was statistically analyzed using three-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey HSD post hoc tests (α = 0.05). Weibull analysis was done to evaluate the reliability of the flexural strength for different materials.

RESULTS: The initial biaxial flexural strength of LT zirconia was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than that of HT zirconia in all groups. While low APA significantly increased the biaxial flexural strength of LT zirconia, no significant change was observed for HT zirconia except for Katana. Surface grinding and cyclic fatigue significantly reduced the flexural strength of all groups. High translucency zirconia reported higher fracture toughness, yet with lower Weibull moduli, compared to LT zirconia.

CONCLUSION: LT zirconia has higher biaxial flexural strength, yet with lower fracture toughness and fatigue resistance, compared to HT zirconia. Low-pressure APA has significantly increased the biaxial flexural strength in all zirconia groups except BruxZir. Grinding was deteriorating to biaxial flexural strength and fracture toughness in all zirconia types. Cyclic fatigue has significantly decreased the biaxial flexural strength and reliability of HT and LT zirconia.

PMID:36123676 | DOI:10.1186/s12903-022-02431-8