The epidemiology of psychiatric disorders in Africa: a scoping review.

This scoping review of population-based epidemiological studies was done to provide background information on the prevalences and distribution of psychiatric disorders in Africa for calls to broaden diversity in psychiatric genetic studies. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science to retrieve relevant literature in English, French, and Portuguese from Jan 1, 1984, to Aug 18, 2020. In 36 studies from 12 African countries, the lifetime prevalence ranged from 3·3% to 9·8% for mood disorders, from 5·7% to 15·8% for anxiety disorders, from 3·7% to 13·3% for substance use disorders, and from 1·0% to 4·4% for psychotic disorders.

Brief Screening Tool for Stepped-Care Management of Mental and Substance Use Disorders.

Objective: Stepped mental health care requires a rapid method for nonspecialists to detect illness. This study aimed to develop and validate a brief instrument, the Mental Wellness Tool (mwTool), for identification and classification.

Methods: Cross-sectional development and validation samples included adults at six health facilities in Mozambique.

Lasofoxifene as a potential treatment for therapy-resistant ER-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Background: Endocrine therapy remains the mainstay of treatment for estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer. Constitutively active mutations in the ligand binding domain of ERα render tumors resistant to endocrine agents. Breast cancers with the two most common ERα mutations, Y537S and D538G, have low sensitivity to fulvestrant inhibition, a typical second-line endocrine therapy.

Histological Features of Sporadic and Familial Testicular Germ Cell Tumors Compared and Analysis of Age-Related Changes of Histology.

This study aimed to compare histological features of familial and sporadic testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs) and surrounding parenchyma, since discriminating features might be etiologically relevant and clinically useful. The study of parenchyma was prompted by reports claiming a higher prevalence of testicular microlithiasis in familial cases. Histological features of TGCTs and surrounding parenchyma of 296 sporadic and 305 familial cases were compared.

Negative Association Between Mediterranean Diet Adherence and COVID-19 Cases and Related Deaths in Spain and 23 OECD Countries: An Ecological Study.

In December 2019, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov2) emerged in Wuhan, China, sparking the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The high prevalence of nutrition-related COVID-19 risk factors including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension, suggests that healthy dietary approaches may mitigate COVID-19 related outcomes and possibly SARS-CoV-2 infection. Based on the fundamental role of nutrition in immune function and the well-documented association between Mediterranean diet consumption and risk reduction for chronic diseases that are comorbidities in COVID-19 patients, we hypothesized that there would be a relationship between Mediterranean diet adherence and COVID-19 cases and related deaths.

Detailed study protocol for systematic scoping review of research on child marriage, 2000-2019.

Introduction: The global development agenda reflects greater attention to ending child marriage and supporting adolescent girls than ever before. Limited understandings of the evidence base on child marriage, however, make it challenging to assess gaps in the literature and inform policy and programming to respond to the needs of adolescent girls. The goal of this project is to systematically identify, evaluate and synthesise the global evidence on child marriage.

Genetically Inferred Telomere Length and Testicular Germ Cell Tumor Risk.

Background: Studies evaluating the association between peripheral blood leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and testicular germ cell tumor (TGCT) risk have produced conflicting results.

Methods: Using available genotype data from the Testicular Cancer Consortium (TECAC), polygenic risk score and Mendelian randomization analyses of genetic variants previously associated with LTL were used to assess potential etiologic associations between telomere length and TGCT risk.

Results: Genetically inferred telomere length was not associated with TGCT risk among 2,049 cases and 6,921 controls with individual-level genotype data (OR, 1.

Biofortified and fortified maize consumption reduces prevalence of low milk retinol, but does not increase vitamin A stores of breastfeeding Zambian infants with adequate reserves: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Replacement of conventional staples with biofortified or industrially fortified staples in household diets may increase maternal breast milk retinol content and vitamin A intakes from complementary foods, improving infant total body stores (TBS) of vitamin A.

Objectives: To determine whether biofortified or industrially fortified maize consumption by Zambian women and their breastfeeding infants could improve milk retinol concentration and infant TBS.

Methods: We randomly assigned 255 lactating women and their 9-mo-old infants to a 90-d intervention providing 0 µg retinol equivalents (RE)/d as conventional maize or ∼315 µg RE/d to mothers and ∼55 µg RE/d to infants as provitamin A carotenoid-biofortified maize or retinyl palmitate-fortified maize.

The Systemic and Cellular Metabolic Phenotype of Infection and Immune Response to .

It is widely accepted that infection and immune response incur significant metabolic demands, yet the respective demands of specific immune responses to live pathogens have not been well delineated. It is also established that upon activation, metabolic pathways undergo shifts at the cellular level. However, most studies exploring these issues at the systemic or cellular level have utilized pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) that model sepsis, or model antigens at isolated time points.

FOXP3 and Tip60 Structural Interactions Relevant to IPEX Development Lead to Potential Therapeutics to Increase FOXP3 Dependent Suppressor T Cell Functions.

Regulatory T (Treg) cells play a role in the maintenance of immune homeostasis and are critical mediators of immune tolerance. The Forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) protein acts as a regulator for Treg development and function. Mutations in the gene can lead to autoimmune diseases such as Immunodysregulation, polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, and X-linked (IPEX) syndrome in humans, often resulting in death within the first 2 years of life and a scurfy like phenotype in mutant mice.

A case-only study to identify genetic modifiers of breast cancer risk for BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation carriers.

Breast cancer (BC) risk for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers varies by genetic and familial factors. About 50 common variants have been shown to modify BC risk for mutation carriers. All but three, were identified in general population studies.

Adipose tissue and insulin resistance in obese.

Currently, obesity has become a global health issue and is referred to as an epidemic. Dysfunctional obese adipose tissue plays a pivotal role in the development of insulin resistance. However, the mechanism of how dysfunctional obese-adipose tissue develops insulin-resistant circumstances remains poorly understood.

Infection prevention practices in the United States, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Japan: Results from national surveys.

Objective: To assess the extent to which evidence-based practices are regularly used in acute care hospitals in different countries.

Design: Cross-sectional survey study. Participants and setting: Infection preventionists in acute care hospitals in the United States (US), the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Japan.

Persistent COVID-19-associated neurocognitive symptoms in non-hospitalized patients.

As cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mount worldwide, attention is needed on potential long-term neurologic impacts for the majority of patients who experience mild to moderate illness managed as outpatients. To date, there has not been discussion of persistent neurocognitive deficits in patients with milder COVID-19. We present two cases of non-hospitalized patients recovering from COVID-19 with persistent neurocognitive symptoms.

A Structure-Guided Delineation of FOXP3 Regulation Mechanism in IPEX.

The FOXP3 transcription factor acts as a master regulator in the development and function of regulatory T cells (Tregs). Insufficient expression or mutation of FOXP3 gene impairs Treg abundancy and function and causes fatal autoimmune lymphoproliferative diseases in mice and humans. The available crystal structures of FOXP3 protein fragments provide insights into understanding details of the FOXP3 work mechanism in Tregs.

Epithelial cell transforming 2 is regulated by Yes-associated protein 1 and mediates pancreatic cancer progression and metastasis.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is highly metastatic and represents one of the deadliest forms of human cancers. Previous studies showed that activation of Yes-associated protein 1 (YAP1) plays a key role in malignant transformation in the pancreas. In this study, we found that YAP1 regulates the expression of epithelial cell transforming 2 (ECT2), a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for Rho-like GTPases.

Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Hospitalized Women Giving Birth With and Without COVID-19.

This cohort study compares the clinical characteristics and outcomes of hospitalized women who gave birth with and without coronavirus disease 2019.

PRMT5 and Tip60 Modify FOXP3 Function in Tumor Immunity.

Posttranslational modifications (PTMs) such as protein arginine methylation are involved in the regulation of diverse cellular processes such as epigenetic modifications, DNA damage response (DDR), RNA processing, signal transduction, and immune responses. Protein methyltransferases (PRMTs), which mediate arginine methylation, have been studied because of their dysregulation in several diseases. PRMT5, a type II arginine methyltransferase is relevant to cancer progression.

Neurodevelopmental Outcome in Very Low Birth Weight Infants Exposed to Donor Milk.

Objective: This study was aimed to evaluate the impact of donor milk (DM) received in the first 28 days of life (DOL) on neurodevelopmental (ND) outcome at 20-months corrected age (CA) in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants.

Study Design: A total of 84 infants born in 2011 to 2012 who received only mother's own milk (MOM) and/or preterm formula (PF) was compared with 69 infants born in 2013 to 2014 who received MOM and/or DM. Daily enteral intake of MOM, DM, and PF was collected through 28 DOL.

A Role for Somatostatin-Positive Interneurons in Neuro-Oscillatory and Information Processing Deficits in Schizophrenia.

Alterations in neocortical GABAergic interneurons (INs) have been affiliated with neuropsychiatric diseases, including schizophrenia (SZ). Significant progress has been made linking the function of a specific subtype of GABAergic cells, parvalbumin (PV) positive INs, to altered gamma-band oscillations, which, in turn, underlie perceptual and feedforward information processing in cortical circuits. Here, we review a smaller but growing volume of literature focusing on a separate subtype of neocortical GABAergic INs, somatostatin (SST) positive INs.