Tag: pubmed

J Public Health Manag Pract. 2022 Nov-Dec 01;28(Suppl 6):S286-S294. doi: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000001546.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Overdose fatality review teams are a public health and public safety collaboration that reviews fatality cases using a multidisciplinary team to provide recommendations for overdose prevention. No research exists on the case review practices currently being used in these programs.

DESIGN: We administered a cross-sectional survey measuring case review practices and perceptions to a convenience sample of overdose fatality review teams.

SETTING: We administered the online survey to participants at a national virtual forum on overdose fatality review.

PARTICIPANTS: In this study, we examined 30 county-level overdose fatality review teams from 6 states who completed the survey.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We developed measures of case review practices from an overdose fatality review implementation guide. We provided descriptive statistics on the survey items used to measure these practices and examined how practice uptake varied by overdose fatality review team characteristics.

RESULTS: Most overdose fatality review teams had adequate representation and membership, but none adhered to all of the practices measured from the implementation guide. The largest gap was in perceived effectiveness and implementation of case review recommendations. In addition, teams that had been reviewing cases for longer reported more adherence to recommended practices.

CONCLUSIONS: Overdose fatality case review is a collaboration between local public health and public safety agencies that holds great promise. However, these teams will require additional training and technical assistance with local community support to ensure that recommendations are actionable.

PMID:36194796 | DOI:10.1097/PHH.0000000000001546

J Agric Food Chem. 2022 Oct 4. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.2c01330. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the influence of chitosan oligosaccharides (COSs) on a thioacetamide-induced hepatic encephalopathy (HE) Wistar rat model. COS treatment statistically reduced the false neurotransmitters and blood ammonia in HE rats, along with the suppression of oxidative stress and inflammation. The disbalanced gut microbiota was detected in HE rats by 16S rDNA sequencing, but the abundance alterations of some intestinal bacteria at either the phylum or genus level were at least partly restored by COS treatment. According to metabolomics analysis of rat feces, six metabolism pathways with the greatest response to HE were screened, several of which were remarkably reversed by COS. The altered metabolites might serve as a bridge for the alleviated HE rats treated with COS and the enhanced intestinal bacterial structure. This study provides novel guidance to develop novel food or dietary supplements to improve HE diseases due to the potential beneficial effect of COS on gut-liver axis.

PMID:36194761 | DOI:10.1021/acs.jafc.2c01330

Eur J Heart Fail. 2022 Oct 4. doi: 10.1002/ejhf.2707. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: Empagliflozin improves cardiovascular and renal outcomes in patients with heart failure and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (HFrEF), but its efficacy and safety across patients’ age is not well established.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We assessed the effects of empagliflozin (10 mg daily) versus placebo, on top of standard HF therapy, in symptomatic HFrEF patients with a LVEF ≤40% and increased natriuretic peptides stratified by age (<65, 65-74, ≥75 years). The primary endpoint was a composite of cardiovascular death or HF hospitalization. Key secondary endpoints included first and recurrent HF hospitalizations and slope of change in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR); the latter was supported by an analysis of a renal composite endpoint (chronic dialysis or renal transplantation or profound and sustained reduction in eGFR). Of 3730 patients, 38% were <65 years, 35% were 65-74 years and 27% were ≥75 years. Compared with placebo, empagliflozin reduced the primary endpoint consistently across the three age groups [hazard ratio, 0.71 (confidence intervals, 0.57-0.89) for <65 years, 0.72 (0.57-0.93) for 65-74 years, 0.86 (0.67-1.10) for ≥75 years, interaction p-trend test=0.24]. The effects of empagliflozin were also consistent across age groups for key secondary endpoints of first and recurrent HF hospitalization (p-trend=0.30), the rate of decline in eGFR (p-trend=0.78) and the renal composite (p-trend= 0.94). Adverse events (AEs), serious AEs and AEs leading to drug discontinuation increased with age in both treatment arms, but empagliflozin did not increase their incidence over placebo within each age group.

CONCLUSION: The efficacy and safety of empagliflozin in improving cardiovascular and renal outcomes in HFrEF was consistent across the spectrum of age, including older patients (aged ≥75). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

PMID:36194680 | DOI:10.1002/ejhf.2707

J Contin Educ Health Prof. 2022 Sep 30. doi: 10.1097/CEH.0000000000000464. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: The study aimed to determine how physicians’ professional and institutional characteristics affect their treatment approaches for COVID-19 antiviral and supportive treatment, as well as their demographic characteristics and participation in COVID-19 trainings that may influence these orientations.

METHODS: After researching the literature and conducting interviews with the experts, a questionnaire was prepared. The convenience sampling method was used to distribute the questionnaire online to 408 physicians across the nation in January 2021. Exploratory factor analysis was used to verify the research scale, and the Cronbach’s Alpha test was used to confirm its reliability. During the data analysis, descriptive and inferential statistical tests were used.

RESULTS: It was observed that the physicians were willing to give COVID-19 patients the antivirals but hesitant to provide and suggest supportive care. The training status for COVID-19 treatment was varied. Female physicians prescribed more antiviral drugs than male physicians, received more training, and scored higher across the scale than male physicians (p = 0.001). The treatment approaches of physicians varied according to their specializations (p = 0.002) all over the scale.

DISCUSSION: The publication of current Ministry of Health guidelines on a variety of themes related to COVID-19 treatment, as seen in Turkey, is both beneficial and important. However, because all physicians, regardless of specialty, are affected by current and will be in the future pandemics, it is necessary to design and maintain a continuous training program on pandemics and their management for all physicians.

PMID:36194665 | DOI:10.1097/CEH.0000000000000464

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Oct 11;119(41):e2210094119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2210094119. Epub 2022 Oct 4.

ABSTRACT

Understanding the activated transport of penetrant or tracer atoms and molecules in condensed phases is a challenging problem in chemistry, materials science, physics, and biophysics. Many angstrom- and nanometer-scale features enter due to the highly variable shape, size, interaction, and conformational flexibility of the penetrant and matrix species, leading to a dramatic diversity of penetrant dynamics. Based on a minimalist model of a spherical penetrant in equilibrated dense matrices of hard spheres, a recent microscopic theory that relates hopping transport to local structure has predicted a novel correlation between penetrant diffusivity and the matrix thermodynamic dimensionless compressibility, S₀(T) (which also quantifies the amplitude of long wavelength density fluctuations), as a consequence of a fundamental statistical mechanical relationship between structure and thermodynamics. Moreover, the penetrant activation barrier is predicted to have a factorized/multiplicative form, scaling as the product of an inverse power law of S₀(T) and a linear/logarithmic function of the penetrant-to-matrix size ratio. This implies an enormous reduction in chemical complexity that is verified based solely on experimental data for diverse classes of chemically complex penetrants dissolved in molecular and polymeric liquids over a wide range of temperatures down to the kinetic glass transition. The predicted corollary that the penetrant diffusion constant decreases exponentially with inverse temperature raised to an exponent determined solely by how S₀(T) decreases with cooling is also verified experimentally. Our findings are relevant to fundamental questions in glassy dynamics, self-averaging of angstrom-scale chemical features, and applications such as membrane separations, barrier coatings, drug delivery, and self-healing.

PMID:36194629 | DOI:10.1073/pnas.2210094119

Drug Metab Pers Ther. 2022 Aug 24. doi: 10.1515/dmpt-2022-0125. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: The recent trends of rising unresponsive cases of dermatophytosis to conventional therapies pose a challenge in clinical practice. Unani medicine offers effective treatment for dermatophytosis. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the Unani herbo-mineral preparations Qurs-e-Asfar (QA) and Rogan-e-Narjeel (RN) in dermatophytosis.

METHODS: This was a randomized, active-controlled and open-label clinical study. The participants diagnosed with dermatophytosis (n=78) randomized into treatment group (n=40) receiving oral QA (778 mg twice a day) and topical RN and control group (n=38) receiving oral Itraconazole (100 mg/day) and topical Terbinafine hydrochloride (1%) for 6 weeks.

RESULTS: We found post-treatment improvement in itching by 86.3% vs. 78% (treatment vs. control group), erythema by 96.4% vs. 94.3%, scaling by 93% vs. 92.2% and peripheral raised margins by 82.3% vs. 81%. Furthermore, this study showed that the differences in the mean Total Signs and Symptoms Score (TSSS) and positive KOH mount were clinically and statistically significant (p<0.05) in both the groups. On comparing inter group, the differences in mean TSSS (p=0.07) and positive KOH mount (p=0.717) were found statistically insignificant.

CONCLUSIONS: This study concludes that the formulations QA and RN were effective and safe in the treatment of dermatophytosis.

PMID:36194619 | DOI:10.1515/dmpt-2022-0125

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2022 Oct 4;16(10):e0010818. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010818. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

In models of mosquito-borne transmission, the mosquito biting rate is an influential parameter, and understanding the heterogeneity of the process of biting is important, as biting is usually assumed to be relatively homogeneous across individuals, with time-between-bites described by an exponentially distributed process. However, these assumptions have not been addressed through laboratory experimentation. We experimentally investigated the daily biting habits of Ae. aegypti at three temperatures (24°C, 28°C, and 32°C) and determined that there was individual heterogeneity in biting habits (number of bites, timing of bites, etc.). We further explored the consequences of biting heterogeneity using an individual-based model designed to examine whether a particular biting profile determines whether a mosquito is more or less likely to 1) become exposed given a single index case of dengue (DENV) and 2) transmit to a susceptible human individual. Our experimental results indicate that there is heterogeneity among individuals and among temperature treatments. We further show that this results in altered probabilities of transmission of DENV to and from individual mosquitoes based on biting profiles. While current model representation of biting may work under some conditions, it might not uniformly be the best fit for this process. Our data also confirm that biting is a non-monotonic process with temperatures around 28°C being optimum.

PMID:36194617 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pntd.0010818

PLoS One. 2022 Oct 4;17(10):e0275540. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275540. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

This study examines current household disaster preparedness and identifies its predictors in South Korea. A structured online survey was administered to 1,243 participants quota-sampled by age and population from each administrative district. Based on the socio-ecological model, interpersonal factors (general characteristics, prior disaster experience, anxiety, dispositional optimism, perceived disaster risk, and disaster preparedness knowledge), institutional factor (front-line preparedness), community factor (community resilience), public policy factor (governmental preparedness), and household disaster preparedness were measured. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Bonferroni test, Pearson’s correlation coefficients, and multiple regression. The predictors of household disaster preparedness were occupation, economic status, prior disaster experience, anxiety, disaster preparedness knowledge, front-line preparedness, and community resilience. The most potent predictor of household disaster preparedness was community resilience. Our finding that community resilience, a community factor, has a greater impact on household disaster preparedness than personal factors calls for programs that promote such resilience. Further, continuous public education and campaigns are needed to increase public awareness of household disaster preparedness and to improve the public’s competency to prepare for potential disasters. This study raises the need for community programs for residents to increase household disaster preparedness knowledge and improve their competencies related to disaster response. This study is significant in highlighting the importance of community factors in improving household disaster preparedness amid the need to prepare for various types of disasters.

PMID:36194599 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0275540

PLoS One. 2022 Oct 4;17(10):e0275583. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275583. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Good menstrual hygiene practice is critical to the health of adolescent girls and women. In Ghanaian public schools, the School Health Education Program which includes menstrual health education has been instituted to equip adolescents with knowledge on menstruation and its related good hygiene practices. However, in most communities, menstruation is scarcely discussed openly due to mostly negative social and religious beliefs about menstruation. In this study, we examined socio-cultural factors associated with knowledge, attitudes and menstrual hygiene practices among Junior High School adolescent girls in the Kpando Municipality of Ghana.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A mixed method approach was employed with 480 respondents. A survey was conducted among 390 adolescent girls using interviewer-administered questionnaires to collect data on knowledge of menstruation and menstrual hygiene practices. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) using a discussion guide were conducted among 90 respondents in groups of 9 members. The FGD was used to collect data on socio-cultural beliefs and practices regarding menstruation. Descriptive and inferential statistics and content analysis were used to analyze the quantitative and qualitative data respectively.

RESULTS: Most (80%) of the study participants had good knowledge of menstruation. Also, most (82%) of the participants practiced good menstrual hygiene. Attending a public (AOR = 0.24, 95% CI = 0.12-0.48, p<0.001) and rural (AOR = 0.40, 95% CI = 0.21-0.75, p<0.01) school was significantly associated with reduced odds of practicing good menstrual hygiene. Good knowledge of menstruation was associated with increased odds of good hygiene practices (AOR = 4.31, 95% CI = 2.39-7.90, p<0.001). Qualitative results showed that teachers provided adolescents with more detailed biological information on menstruation than key informants (family members) did at menarche. However, both teachers and family members spoke positively of menstruation to adolescent girls. Social and religious beliefs indicate that menstruation is evil and unclean. Such beliefs influenced community members’ attitudes towards adolescent girls and led to practices such as isolating menstruating girls and limiting their ability to interact and participate in certain community and religious activities.

CONCLUSION: Despite the prominence of negative social and religious beliefs about menstruation, good menstrual hygiene practice was high among study participants. Knowledge of menstruation; place of residents; and type of school were the major factors associated with good menstrual hygiene practice. It is therefore, necessary to intensify the School Health Education Program in both rural and urban public and intensively involve private schools as well to ensure equal access to accurate information on menstruation and good menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent girls.

PMID:36194593 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0275583

PLoS One. 2022 Oct 4;17(10):e0273190. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273190. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

In Europe, there is a dearth of studies on abortion-related mobilities within countries where abortion is legal. In France, 18% of women seek abortion care outside their department of residence care. Most of these flows take place within Île-de-France region. This paper aims at providing novel insights into the motives and experiences of women traveling within France and particularly within the Île-de-France region for abortion care. It draws upon official abortion statistics as well as quantitative and qualitative data collected in three Parisian hospitals during a five-year European research project on barriers to legal abortion and abortion travel. Despite governmental efforts to facilitate access to abortions over the past decades, our findings show that various barriers exist for why women do not find services in their department of residence (lack of services or access to preferred methods, quality of care, long waiting times). However, most of our study participants report coming to Paris as a convenience and use commuting as a strategy to overcome obstacles in receiving abortion care.

PMID:36194570 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0273190