Publications by authors named "Dube L"

Objective: This study aimed to assess incidence and predictors of mortality among preterm neonates in Jimma University Medical Center, Southwest Ethiopia.

Methods: A retrospective follow-up study was conducted among 505 preterm neonates admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Jimma University Medical Center from 01 January 2017, to 30 December 2019. Data were collected from medical records using a data collection checklist.

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CuInS (CIS) quantum dots (QDs) represent an important class of colloidal materials with broad application potential, owing to their low toxicity and unique optical properties. Although coating with a ZnS shell has been identified as a crucial method to enhance optical performance, the occurrence of cation exchange has historically resulted in the unintended formation of Cu-In-Zn-S alloyed QDs, causing detrimental blueshifts in both absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectral profiles. In this study, we present a facile one-pot synthetic strategy aimed at impeding the cation exchange process and promoting ZnS shell growth on CIS core QDs.

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Importance: To date, no meta-analyses have comprehensively assessed the association of neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy with clinical outcomes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in randomized and nonrandomized settings. In addition, there exists controversy concerning the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy for patients with NSCLC with programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) levels less than 1%.

Objective: To compare neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy with chemotherapy by adverse events and surgical, pathological, and efficacy outcomes using recently published randomized clinical trials and nonrandomized trials.

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Purpose Of Review: HIV service delivery programs are some of the largest funded public health programs in the world. Timely, efficient evaluation of these programs can be enhanced with methodologies designed to estimate the effects of policy. We propose using the synthetic control method (SCM) as an implementation science tool to evaluate these HIV programs.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study assesses the costs associated with an HIV self-testing distribution program in Eswatini, detailing both community-based and workplace delivery models from April 2019 to March 2020.
  • Over the 12-month period, 19,155 HIV self-test kits were distributed to 13,031 individuals, with a higher distribution rate in community settings compared to workplaces.
  • Key financial figures indicated that personnel accounted for 60% of costs, while the average cost per kit distributed was $17.23, with significantly higher costs associated with clients who tested positive and initiated antiretroviral therapy (ART).
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Introduction: Mental health conditions constitute a significant percentage of the global burden of disease. A shortfall of mental health specialists and a lack of integration of services in primary care in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) contribute towards a mental health treatment gap in excess of 70%. Organising and equipping non-specialist healthcare workers is, therefore, an important strategy for improving access to mental health services in LMICs.

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Reinforcement learning (RL) refers to the ability to learn stimulus-response or response-outcome associations relevant to the acquisition of behavioral repertoire and adaptation to the environment. Research data from correlational and case-control studies have shown that obesity is associated with impairments in RL. The aim of the present study was to systematically review how obesity and overweight are associated with RL performance.

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Monolayers self-assembled by triphenyleneethynylene (TPE) compounds bearing two terminal alkynyl chains were polymerized by Glaser-Hay (G-H) alkyne coupling at the acetonitrile-HOPG interface. The alkynyl chains extend into the solution due to the monolayer's dense-packed morphology. Reacting substructures that have no morphology-determining roles is a potential strategy for preserving monolayer morphology throughout polymerization.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study focused on palovarotene, a drug being developed for fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), assessing its pharmacokinetics in both fed and fasted states, and its potential impact on the drug midazolam, a CYP3A4 substrate.
  • Participants (23 total) received varying doses of palovarotene, with results showing increased drug absorption in fed conditions, but palovarotene did not significantly affect midazolam levels, indicating it is not a strong CYP3A4 inducer.
  • The findings suggest that palovarotene can be given after meals, either whole or sprinkled on food, and that its 20 mg
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Developing Type-I core/shell quantum dots is of great importance toward fabricating stable and sustainable photocatalysts. However, the application of Type-I systems has been limited due to the strongly confined photogenerated charges by the energy barrier originating from the wide-bandgap shell material. In this project, we found that through the decoration of Au satellite-type domains on the surface of Type-I CdS/ZnS core/shell quantum dots, such an energy barrier can be effectively overcome and an over 400-fold enhancement of photocatalytic H evolution rate was achieved compared to bare CdS/ZnS quantum dots.

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For adaptive real-time behavior in real-world contexts, the brain needs to allow past information over multiple timescales to influence current processing for making choices that create the best outcome as a person goes about making choices in their everyday life. The neuroeconomics literature on value-based decision-making has formalized such choice through reinforcement learning models for two extreme strategies. These strategies are (MF), which is an automatic, stimulus-response type of action, and (MB), which bases choice on cognitive representations of the world and causal inference on environment-behavior structure.

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Background: Visual impairment, which is related to many eye diseases, is a major public health problem. If detected and treated early, it can be prevented; therefore, regular use of vision services is very important.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the proportion of utilization of eye care services and associated factors among the rural community population in southern Ethiopia.

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Background: Assistive technologies (ATs) enable persons with visual impairment (PwVI) to equitably benefit from public library resources and services as their sighted counterparts. However, the extent to which this facility is available and used at public libraries in less-developed countries remains largely unknown.

Objectives: This study reports on the investigation done on the availability and use of ATs by PwVI at public libraries in the cities of Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg in South Africa.

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Acute and early HIV infection (AEHI) is rarely diagnosed in sub-Saharan Africa, despite its potential contribution to incidence reduction. This qualitative study in Eswatini explored the experiences of health workers, people diagnosed with AEHI, and their partners towards AEHI diagnosis, to inform its scale-up. In-depth interviews were undertaken with 11 women and four men diagnosed with AEHI.

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Background: The greatest risk of getting tuberculosis (TB) infection is contact with patients who have pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). The World Health Organization (WHO) strongly recommends tuberculosis screening for all household contacts of PTB patients. However, there is no information on household contact screening adherence among PTB patients in Shashamane town.

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Background: Nutritional risk has been linked to individual social factors, but the relationship with the overall social environment has not been assessed.

Objectives: To evaluate associations between different support profiles of the social environment and nutritional risk using cross-sectional data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (n = 20,206). Subgroup analyses were performed among middle-aged (range, 45-64 y; n = 12,726) and older-aged (≥65 y, n = 7480) adults.

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Background: Social prescription programs represent a viable solution to linking primary care patients to nonmedical community resources for improving patient well-being. However, their success depends on the integration of patient needs with local resources. This integration could be accelerated by digital tools that use expressive ontology to organize knowledge resources, thus enabling the seamless navigation of diverse community interventions and services tailored to the needs of individual users.

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Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. Quebec has the highest lung cancer mortality out of all provinces in Canada, believed to be caused by higher smoking rates. Molecular testing for lung cancer is standard of care due to the discovery of actionable driver mutations that can be targeted with tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study evaluated the pharmacokinetics and safety of palovarotene, a potential treatment for fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, in healthy Japanese and non-Japanese individuals.
  • Participants received a single oral dose of palovarotene, and their plasma drug levels were monitored to compare absorption and elimination between the two groups.
  • Results showed that the pharmacokinetic profiles were similar across both groups, suggesting no need for dose adjustments for Japanese patients with this condition.
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Alzheimer's disease and related dementias is a major public health burden-compounding over upcoming years due to longevity. Recently, clinical evidence hinted at the experience of social isolation in expediting dementia onset. In 502,506 UK Biobank participants and 30,097 participants from the Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging, we revisited traditional risk factors for developing dementia in the context of loneliness and lacking social support.

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The success of antiretroviral therapy (ART) requires continuous engagement in care and optimal levels of adherence to achieve sustained HIV viral suppression. We evaluated HIV-care cascade costs and outcomes of a community-based, mobile HIV-care, peer-delivered linkage case-management program (CommLink) implemented in Manzini region, Eswatini. Abstraction teams visited referral facilities during July 2019-April 2020 to locate, match, and abstract the clinical data of CommLink clients diagnosed between March 2016 and March 2018.

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Objective: Self-monitoring, one of the most important behaviors for successful weight loss, can be facilitated through mobile health applications (mHealth apps). Therefore, it is of interest to determine whether consistent users of these apps succeed in achieving their weight goals. This study used data from an mHealth app that enabled tracking of caloric intake, body weight, and physical activity and provided a caloric budget depending on weight goal.

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Background: The evidence for neoadjuvant targeted therapy in non-small cell lung cancer is limited, with 2 phase 3 trials currently recruiting and no approved indications.

Methods: We describe our experience with the use of neoadjuvant targeted therapy for patients with operable non-small cell lung cancer.

Results: Our focus is on surgical outcomes, which represent an underreported aspect of the patient trajectory.

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Background: Depression and anxiety are highly prevalent among individuals struggling with infertility. Thus, numerous psychological interventions have been adapted to infertility, with the aim of relieving distress as well as increasing pregnancy rates.

Objective And Rationale: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to identify all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the effect of psychological interventions on infertility-related distress and pregnancy rates among individuals and/or couples with infertility and to analyse their overall effect.

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