Introduction: Globally, maternal mortality is a major public health problem mainly due to a lack of access to skilled care during childbirth. Maternity waiting homes (MWHs) play a critical role in accessing emergency obstetric care for pregnant women during childbirth. However, available studies show inconsistent findings about women's utilization of maternity waiting homes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrevious studies have shown that helminth infection protects against the development of diabetes mellitus (DM), possibly related to the hygiene hypothesis. However, studies involving and its possible association with DM are scarce and have shown contradicting results, prompting us to perform this meta-analysis to obtain more precise estimates. Related studies were searched from PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Cochrane Library until 1 August 2024.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer is a multifactorial process involving genetic, epigenetic, physiological, and metabolic changes. The ability of tumours to regulate new reactive pathways is essential for their survival. A key aspect of this involves the decision-making process of cancer cells as they balance the exploitation of surrounding and distant tissues for their own benefit while avoiding the rapid destruction of the host.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To systematically examine the literature on the clinical consequences of inadvertent delays in scheduled onabotulinumtoxin A (OTA) therapy for chronic migraine during the COVID-19 pandemic and assess recommendations when access to OTA is limited.
Background: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was unprecedented in its impact on the global medical community. Most healthcare institutions in the United States (US) and the world had begun significantly limiting elective procedures, undermining management of many debilitating chronic conditions.
Objective: To delineate the trend of use of botulinum toxin, including onabotulinum toxinA (OTA), in active military personnel and veterans with the diagnoses of migraine and post-traumatic headache (PTH) and describe the efficacy of botulinum toxin administration.
Background: Service members and veterans represent a unique population in the medical management of headache disorders, particularly migraine. They exhibit higher susceptibility to pain of greater intensity and longer durations, possibly due to their history of exposure to combat, trauma, and the associated psychological stresses.
We resurrected Typhlops cubae Bibron, 1843, a species considered as a nomen dubium for the past 55 years. Based on a designated lectotype and nearly 80 additional specimens, we redescribed the species and compare it with other congeners from the Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola Islands. We found that Typhlops cubae is related to the Typhlops lumbricalis species group, restricting its distribution to western Cuba and Isla de la Juventud, and overlapping with Typhlops pachyrhinus along the Pinar del Río and Artemisa provinces.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTuberculosis (TB) is a notifiable zoonotic disease caused by bacteria of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) that affects a multitude of domestic and wild species. The main lesions caused by these mycobacteria are tuberculous granulomas, which determine the organism's immune response to the disease. Although TB pathogenesis in cattle has been extensively studied, information regarding its progression in other species of interest for the maintenance and transmission of TB such as goats remains limited.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjetive: To evaluate the frequency and timing of sustained drug-free remission (SDFR) in patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA) and to identify potential predictive factors of this outcome.
Methods: Retrospective review of all patients included in the large Spanish multicentre registry for GCA (ARTESER) with at least two years of follow-up. SDFR was defined as the absence of typical signs, symptoms, or other features of active GCA for ≥12 months after discontinuation of treatment.
Synaptotagmin-1 (syt1) functions as the Ca-dependent sensor that triggers the rapid and synchronous release of neurotransmitters from neurotransmitter-containing vesicles during neuronal exocytosis. The syt1 protein has two homologous tandem C2 domains that interact with phospholipids in a Ca-dependent manner. Despite the crucial role of syt1 in exocytosis, the precise interactions between Ca, syt1, and phospholipids are not fully understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCaprine livestock are significant reservoirs of the complex (MTBC), contributing to tuberculosis (TB) transmission among animals and humans. The P22 protein immunocomplex (P22PI), derived from bovine tuberculin, shows immunostimulating capacity and is used for TB diagnosis. This study assessed the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of P22PI in two groups of goats: 24 naïve goats (12 immunised, 12 controls) from a TB-free herd, and 24 infected goats (12 immunised, 12 controls), referred to as pre-infected animals, from a -infected herd.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThree aminocarbonyls were synthesized, and their emissive spectral behavior recorded at various solvent polarities showed marked inverted solvatofluorochromism. The emission energy inversion occurs at moderate solvent polarities and was found to be triggered by a change in the solute-solvent interaction responsible for the stabilization of the highly zwitterionic excited state of the dyes, from dipolarity to acidity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To prospectively describe the incidence, severity, and burden of injuries in the youth divisions of an Argentinian professional soccer club during a competitive season.
Methods: Two hundred and twelve male soccer academy players were grouped by age categories and maturity offset as pre-peak height velocity (PHV), circa-PHV and post-PHV. Injury characteristics were recorded as the International Olympic Committee suggests.
CD47 is a cell surface glycoprotein that is expressed on normal human tissues and has a key role as a marker of self. Tumor cells have coopted CD47 overexpression to evade immune surveillance and thus blockade of CD47 is a highly active area of clinical exploration in oncology. However, clinical development of CD47-targeted agents has been complicated by its robust expression in normal tissues and the toxicities that arise from blocking this inhibitory signal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNormal placental development and angiogenesis are crucial for fetal growth and maternal health during pregnancy. However, molecular regulation of placental angiogenesis has been difficult to study due to a lack of specific genetic tools that isolate the placenta from the embryo and yolk sac. To address this gap in knowledge we recently developed mice in which Cre is expressed in allantois-derived cells, including placental endothelial and stromal cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present a time-course saturation ELISA for measuring the equilibrium constant of the monoclonal antibody (mAb) SIM 28 against horse radish peroxidase (HRP). The curves of HRP binding to a series of fixed mAb dilutions were plotted to completion, and the K (= K) value (time to occupy 50 % of the mAb paratopes) was determined for each mAb dilution and HRP concentration. Analysis of the kinetic mechanism of the reaction by Lineweaver-Burk and Hanes plots showed that the slope and y-intercept were affected, indicating that mAb ligand saturation follows non-competitive inhibition kinetics in this assay format.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cluster headache (CH) is a significant health concern due to its major socioeconomic consequences and most patients being refractory to conventional strategies. For treatment resistant CH, occipital nerve stimulation (ONS) is considered an effective treatment option. Whereas most patients do not adjust the amplitude of the ONS system, a subset changes the amplitude on a regular basis using their remote control, and are therefore referred to as 'voltage tuners'.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHybrid immunity, resulting from a combination of SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination, offers robust protection against COVID-19 in the general population. However, its impact on immunocompromised patients remains unexplored. We investigated the effect of hybrid immunity against the Omicron variant in a population of kidney transplant recipients receiving the fourth dose mRNA monovalent vaccination.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEarly Childhood Caries (ECC) is a condition associated with nearly 123 risk factors. Among all the risk factors, enamel defects or enamel hypoplasia (ED/EH) has been shown to be the primary risk factor. ED/EH comprises the earliest changes that manifest on newly erupted primary tooth surfaces soon after its eruption.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF