Assessing COVID-19 outcomes among healthcare workers: a retrospective study.

Introduction: The purpose of this research was to investigate the outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection in healthcare workers, assess the incidence of infection among them, and identify factors linked to the severity of the disease.

Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted retrospectively in Duhok city, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, from September 2021 to January 2023.

Results: The study included 1,958 participants, of whom 1,338 (68.

Recent progress in nanoparticulate-based intranasal delivery for treating of different central nervous system diseases.

Drug administration to the central nervous system (CNS) has become a great obstacle because of several biological barriers, such as the blood-brain barrier, therefore, brain targeting insights are a light for scientists to move forward for treating neurogenerative diseases using advanced non-invasive methods. The current demand is to use a potential direct route as the nasal administration to transport drugs into the brain enhancing the BBB permeability and hence, increasing the bioavailability. Interestingly, recent techniques have been implanted in formulating nanocarriers-based therapeutics for targeting and treating ischemic stroke using lipid or polymeric-based materials.

Impact of real-time weather conditions on crash injury severity in Kentucky using the correlated random parameters logit model with heterogeneity in means.

The present study investigated the impact of real-time weather (air temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, wind speed, and solar radiation) on crash injury severity. Recent crash data (January 2016 to April 2021) on Interstate-75 in the state of Kentucky were merged with real-time weather information (retrieved from Kentucky Mesonet stations) at the 1-hour level. The severity index "SI" (i.

Cloning and periplasmic soluble expression of hepatitis B surface antigen gene in Escherichia coli.

Objective: The objective of this study was to clone and express the hepatitis B surface antigen gene (HBsAg) in Escherichia coli (E. coli), thereby aiming to develop potential local therapeutics for combating Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the Pakistani community by producing HBsAg in E. coli.

Brassica oleracea L. (Acephala Group) based zinc oxide nanoparticles and their efficacy as antibacterial agent.

Zinc oxide nanoparticles were synthesized from the leaf extract of Brassica oleracea L. Acephala group (collard green) followed by their characterization using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX). The antibacterial properties of zinc nanoparticles were tested against Gram-negative bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC ® 9027™), Escherichia coli (ATCC ® 8739™), Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC® BAA-1705™) and Gram-positive bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC ® 6538™) and Listeria monocytogenes (ATCC ® 13932™), at four different concentrations (50.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Perception of Cancer Patients towards COVID-19 in Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Cancer patients, being immunocompromised, are at higher risk of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The current study determines cancer patients’ knowledge, attitude, perception, and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Pakistan from 1 April 2020 to 1 May 2020.

Design and optimization of silymarin loaded in lyophilized fast melt tablets to attenuate lung toxicity induced HgCl in rats.

The present study aimed to develop fast melting tablets (FMTs) using silymarin (SM) owing to FMTs rapid disintegration and dissolution. FMTs represent a pathway to help patients to increase their compliance level of treatment facile administration without water or chewing beside reduction cost. One of the methods for FMTs formulation is lyophilization.

Quantitative Estimation of Aflatoxin Level in Poultry Feed in Selected Poultry Farms.

. Poultry feed contamination due to mycotoxins is one of the major threats to the growing poultry industry. Surveillance of different mycotoxins, including aflatoxin, is very important to control economic and health hazards associated with these toxins.

Assessment of General Populations Knowledge, Attitude, and Perceptions Toward the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): A Cross-Sectional Study From Pakistan.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global health threat and caused a universal psychosocial impact on the general population. Therefore, the knowledge, attitude, and perceptions (KAPs) of the general population are critical for the development and effective implementation of standard operating procedures (SOP) to contain the contagion and minimize the losses. Therefore, the current study was conducted to understand and evaluate the KAPs of Pakistani populations toward the COVID-19.

Examining crash injury severity and barrier-hit outcomes from cable barriers and strong-post guardrails on Alabama's interstate highways.

Introduction: This study investigates the impact of several risk factors (i.e., roadway, driver, vehicle, environmental, and barrier-specific characteristics) on the injury severity resulting from barrier-related crashes and also on barrier-hit outcomes (i.

Preparation, characterization and stability studies of cross-linked α-amylase aggregates (CLAAs) for continuous liquefaction of starch.

In current study, α-amylase of fungal origin was immobilized using cross-linking strategy. The influence of precipitant (ammonium sulphate) and cross-linker (glutaraldehyde) concentration revealed that 60% (w/v) precipitant and 1.5% (v/v) cross-linker saturation was required to attain optimum activity.

Core in Cup Ethylmorphine Hydrochloride Tablet for Dual Fast and Sustained Pain Relief: Formulation, Characterization, and Pharmacokinetic Study.

Ethylmorphine hydrochloride (EtM) is a derivative of morphine used as analgesic to treat severe pain in case of cancer and bone injury. This study aimed to formulate and evaluate core in cup tablets containing 2 doses of EtM, the cup was formulated as lyophilized oro-dispersible tablet (ODT) for immediate release (IR), and the core was formulated as directly compressed tablet for sustained release (SR). Factorial design was adopted for the optimization of tablets prepared via lyophilized form and direct compression techniques: a 4.

Multifaceted behavior of PEST sequence enriched nuclear proteins in cancer biology and role in gene therapy.

The amino acid sequence enriched with proline (P), glutamic acid (E), serine (S), and threonine (T) (PEST) is a signal-transducing agent providing unique features to its substrate nuclear proteins (PEST-NPs). The PEST motif is responsible for particular posttranslational modifications (PTMs). These PTMs impart distinct properties to PEST-NPs that are responsible for their activation/inhibition, intracellular localization, and stability/degradation.

Developing Bicycle-Vehicle Crash-Specific Safety Performance Functions in Alabama Using Different Techniques.

This study develops bicycle-vehicle safety performance functions (SPFs) for five facilities in the Highway Safety Manual (HSM). These are urban two-lane undivided segments (U2U), urban four-lane divided/undivided segments (U4DU), rural two-lane undivided segments (R2U), urban four-leg and three-leg signalized intersections (USG), and urban four-leg and three-leg stop-controlled intersections (UST). Two modeling techniques were explored, the Conway-Maxwell-Poisson (COM-Poisson) model (to accommodate bicycle-vehicle crash under-dispersion) and a machine learning technique, the multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS).

Mycoremediation: a treatment for heavy metal-polluted soil using indigenous metallotolerant fungi.

Bioleaching of heavy metals from industrial contaminated soil using metallotolerant fungi is the most efficient, cost-effective, and eco-friendly technique. In the current study, the contaminated soil samples from Hattar Industrial Estate revealed a total lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) concentration of 170.90 mg L and 26.

Mycoremediation of heavy metal (Cd and Cr)-polluted soil through indigenous metallotolerant fungal isolates.

Remediation of heavy metals, other than microbial bioleaching method, is expensive and unsuitable for large contaminated areas. The current study was aimed to isolate, identify, and test the potential of indigenous fungal strains for heavy metal removal from contaminated soil. A total of three metallotolerant fungal strains, i.

Assessment of Coronary Atherosclerosis Using Calcium Scores in Short- and Long-Distance Runners.

Objective: To determine whether there is a "dose-dependent" relationship between coronary atherosclerosis and the burden of exercise.

Background: Recent data have suggested there may be negative consequences related to strenuous exercise. Previous studies evaluating the presence of coronary atherosclerosis as assessed by coronary calcium scores have been confounded by the presence of other cardiovascular risk factors.

Identifying and comparing the injury severity risk factors on rural freeways in different states in the United States.

This study identifies and compares those risk factors affecting crash injuries and fatalities on rural freeways in Montana and West Virginia in the United States using the mixed logit model. Three-year crashes on rural freeway segments in both states are used. Higher annual average daily traffic (AADT) was associated with a reduction in injuries/fatalities in both states, with higher reduction in West Virginia (40%) than in Montana (25%).

The Pneumococcal Surface Proteins PspA and PspC Sequester Host C4-Binding Protein To Inactivate Complement C4b on the Bacterial Surface.

Complement is a critical component of antimicrobial immunity. Various complement regulatory proteins prevent host cells from being attacked. Many pathogens have acquired the ability to sequester complement regulators from host plasma to evade complement attack.

Age-related variations in the bactericidal activity of human sera against .

The human serum is a vital component of the innate immunity of the host that acts as the first line of defence against invading pathogens. A key player in serum-mediated innate immune defence is a system of more than 35 proteins, collectively named as the complement system. After exposure of the pathogen, these proteins are activated in a cascade manner, ultimately forming a membrane attack complex (MAC) on the surface of the pathogen that directly lyses the bacterial cell.

Isolation, identification, and pathological effects of beach sand bacterial extract on human skin keratinocytes .

Background: Beaches are recreational spots for people. However, beach sand contains harmful microbes that affect human health, and there are no established methods for either sampling and identifying beach-borne pathogens or managing the quality of beach sand.

Method: This study was conducted with the aim of improving human safety at beaches and augmenting the quality of the beach experience.

Investigating risk factors of traffic casualties at private highway-railroad grade crossings in the United States.

Private highway-railroad grade crossings (HRGCs) are intersections of highways and railroads on roadways that are not maintained by a public authority. Since no public authority maintains private HRGCs, fatal and injury crashes at these locations are of concern. However, no study has been conducted at private HRGCs to identify the safety issues that might exist and how to alleviate them.