Latent tuberculosis prevalence in healthcare workers in Laos: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Individuals with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) have a high risk of active infection, morbidity and mortality. Healthcare workers are a group who have increased risk of infection and onward transmission to their patients and other susceptible individuals; however, LTBI is often undiagnosed, and individuals are asymptomatic. Interferon gamma release assays (IGRA) can detect evidence of TB infection in otherwise asymptomatic individuals and are a good indication of LTBI.

Mechanistic Insights and Technical Challenges in Sulfur-Based Batteries: A Comprehensive / Monitoring Toolbox.

Batteries based on sulfur cathodes offer a promising energy storage solution due to their potential for high performance, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability. However, commercial viability is challenged by issues such as polysulfide migration, volume changes, uneven phase nucleation, limited ion transport, and sluggish sulfur redox kinetics. Addressing these challenges requires insights into the structural, morphological, and chemical evolution of phases, the associated volume changes and internal stresses, and ion and polysulfide diffusion within the battery.

The influence of access to care on the health literacy of families in Mexico.

Health literacy (HL) is essential to understanding health information and achieving health goals. Unfortunately, limited information is available on how parent HL impact child health outcomes. This is critical to understand in areas of the world where access to healthcare services is limited or unavailable.

Oncologic Outcomes of Sequential Intravesical Gemcitabine and Docetaxel Compared with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin in Patients with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin-Unresponsive Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer.

Background And Objective: Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) patients treated with additional bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) may become unresponsive to BCG. Recently, sequential intravesical gemcitabine and docetaxel (gem/doce) are being used for NMIBC. This study aims to compare oncologic outcomes between sequential intravesical gem/doce versus additional BCG in patients with BCG-unresponsive NMIBC.

Hepatitis B Virus Exposure, Seroprotection Status, and Susceptibility in Health Care Workers From Lao People's Democratic Republic: Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Despite the high prevalence of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in adults in Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Lao health care workers (HCWs) have previously been shown to have low levels of protection against infection. Furthermore, the prevalence of hepatitis D virus (HDV), which increases disease severity in individuals infected with HBV, is not known in Lao PDR.

Objective: This study aimed to estimate the exposure and seroprotection against HBV, as well as exposure to HDV, in Lao HCWs from 5 provinces.