Publications by authors named "Khamis F"

Article Synopsis
  • Dengue fever is a major health issue globally, particularly in tropical regions, where identifying hypoalbuminemia helps in diagnosing severe cases early.
  • A systematic review of 17 studies found a significant difference in albumin levels between severe and non-severe dengue patients, with higher hypoalbuminemia noted in children.
  • The research confirms that low albumin levels are a key predictor of severe dengue, which can help healthcare providers improve patient care through tailored treatment plans.
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Tsetse flies and trypanosomosis significantly impact bovine production and human health in sub-Saharan Africa, exacerbating underdevelopment, malnutrition, and poverty. Despite various control strategies, long-term success has been limited. This study evaluates the combined use of entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) and the sterile insect technique (SIT) to combat tsetse flies.

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Article Synopsis
  • The Sleep Quality Scale (SQS) is a validated tool for measuring sleep quality, aimed at simplifying score interpretation.
  • Two studies involving 747 healthcare professionals in Oman established significant correlations between SQS scores and other mental wellbeing measures, confirming its reliability.
  • A cutoff score of ≤6 was determined through the studies, effectively distinguishing between good and poor sleepers, with strong sensitivity and specificity.
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Sustainable agriculture is crucial to ensuring food and nutritional security and improving livelihoods of millions across Africa. However, agricultural production is constrained by native and invasive pests. Indiscriminate insecticide use is often the first line of action to manage these pests, harming human and animal health, and impacting biodiversity.

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Article Synopsis
  • Soda lakes, like Lake Magadi, have unique microbial communities affected by seasonal changes in water chemistry due to evaporation and flooding.
  • * Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, researchers studied microbial diversity and structure in water and brine samples, finding that bacteria were more diverse and abundant than archaea, with variations across different months.
  • * Key factors affecting this diversity included temperature, pH, and various chemical parameters, with salinity and alkalinity identified as major influences on microbial composition.
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Objectives: Sleep disorder is a growing public health concern that requires attentive assessment and treatment. However, the length of assessment tools for sleep disorders, including insomnia, hinders their use in both research and clinical settings. Brief assessment measures expedite assessment time, reducing respondent burden, and save resources, especially in resource-limited settings.

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Plastic waste has recently become a major global environmental concern and one of the biggest challenges has been seeking for alternative management options. Several studies have revealed the potential of several coleopteran species to degrade plastics, and this is the first research paper on plastic-degradation potential by lesser mealworms from Africa. This study evaluated the whole mitogenomic profile of the lesser mealworm to further identify the insect.

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Seasonal influenza poses significant health and economic challenges globally each year, particularly impacting the elderly population (aged ≥ 65 years) with increased rates of hospitalization, and mortality. The population of older adults is steadily increasing in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and is likely to increase even further. In addition, there is a high burden of chronic comorbidities in these countries like diabetes and obesity, which increases the likelihood of severe consequences of influenza infection.

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Background: species used as intercrops in push-pull cropping systems are known to repel insect-pests, suppress species weeds, and shift soil microbiome. However, the mechanisms through which species impact the soil microbiome, either through its root exudates, changes in soil nutrition, or shading microbes from its nodules into the rhizosphere, are less understood. Here, we investigated the diversity of root-nodule microbial communities of three species- (SLD), (GLD), and (AID) which are currently used in smallholder maize push-pull technology (PPT).

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Endophytic fungal-based biopesticides are sustainable and ecologically-friendly biocontrol agents of several pests and diseases. However, their potential in managing tomato fusarium wilt disease (FWD) remains unexploited. This study therefore evaluated effectiveness of nine fungal isolates against tomato fusarium wilt pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum f.

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Intensification of staple crops through conventional agricultural practices with chemical synthetic inputs has yielded positive outcomes in food security but with negative environmental impacts. Ecological intensification using cropping systems such as maize edible-legume intercropping (MLI) systems has the potential to enhance soil health, agrobiodiversity and significantly influence crop productivity. However, mechanisms underlying enhancement of biological soil health have not been well studied.

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Although edible rhinoceros beetle ( sp. larvae are popularly consumed in many countries worldwide, they are prepared using different methods such as boiling, roasting, toasting, and deep-frying, whose effect on nutritional value and microbial safety is scarcely known. Here we investigated the effect of these methods on the nutritional value and microbial safety of sp.

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Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the variables that influenced a sample of Omani mothers' support for mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for children. The vaccination against COVID-19 averted millions of fatalities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, a considerable number of parents and caregivers opposed mandating COVID-19 vaccines for children.

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Edible grasshopper, , has nutritional and cherished cultural and economic importance to people from diverse cultures, particularly in over 20 African countries. It is consumed at home or commercially traded as sautéed, deep-fried, or boiled products. However, there is limited information on the hygiene practices of the vendors and the implications on the microbial safety of the final product.

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The zoophytophagous mirid predator Nesidiocoris tenuis and the ectoparasitoid Stenomesius japonicus are important biological control agents for several agricultural pests including the invasive leafminer, Phthorimaea absoluta, a destructive pest of Solanaceous crops especially tomato in sub-Saharan Africa. However, little is known about how feeding by N. tenuis can influence the tritrophic interactions in the tomato plant.

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Phthorimaea absoluta is a global constraint to tomato production and can cause up to 100% yield loss. Farmers heavily rely on synthetic pesticides to manage this pest. However, these pesticides are detrimental to human, animal, and environmental health.

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This study sought to evaluate the genetic diversity of two invasive species ( Zeller and Meyrick), and identify potential niche overlap of both species. The complete mitogenomes of and were sequenced and compared. Furthermore, the diversity within the family Gelechiidae was assessed.

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Phthorimaea absoluta is an invasive solanaceous plant pest with highly devastating effects on tomato plant. Heavy reliance on insecticide use to tackle the pest has been linked to insecticide resistance selection in P. absoluta populations.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study explores how different cropping systems, specifically the push-pull technology (PPT) and maize-monoculture (Mono), affect the diversity and composition of soil and maize-root microbiomes, highlighting the importance of the soil biota for agriculture.
  • Findings show that PPT improves soil health and microbial diversity by enriching beneficial genera like Trichoderma and Streptomyces, while Mono is associated with harmful genera linked to plant diseases.
  • The research emphasizes that using agroecological practices like PPT can enhance key ecosystem services such as plant protection and nutrient cycling, thereby promoting better crop productivity compared to conventional monoculture systems.
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  • The fall armyworm (FAW) is a serious pest from the Americas that threatens cereal production and food security in Zambia, prompting a study on its natural enemies for potential bio-control.
  • Researchers sampled natural enemies across three Agroecological regions (AERs I, II, and III), identifying over 11 species of parasitoids and predators, with higher abundance in AER I and II.
  • The study highlights the impact of rainfall patterns on natural enemy populations and suggests that findings can contribute to a national biological control program for sustainable FAW management in Zambia.*
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Integrated pest management (IPM) strategies are being promoted to suppress tephritid fruit fly infestation and reduce economic damage in mango production. However, research on their economic performance across different mango production scales (measured by the number of mango trees) is limited. This study estimated the economic benefits of IPM practices (parasitoids, orchard sanitation, food bait, biopesticides, male annihilation technique, and their combinations) in Kenya's small-, medium-, and large-scale mango production systems.

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In the Americas, the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) exists in two genetically distinct strains, the corn (C) and rice (R) strains. Despite their names, these strains are not associated with host plant preferences but have been shown to vary in pheromone composition and male responses. Recently, S.

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The false codling moth (FCM), Thaumatotibia leucotreta, is a major quarantine pest native to Africa. Physical postharvest phytosanitary measures such as cold and heat treatments are championed to control its spread to new regions. However, the molecular changes that T.

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The vulnerability of patients on hemodialysis (HD) to infections is evident by their increased susceptibility to infections in general and to resistant organisms in particular. Unnecessary, inappropriate, or suboptimal antimicrobial prescribing is common in dialysis units. This underscores the need for dedicated antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) interventions that can be implemented both in the inpatient and outpatient settings.

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Recent monkeypox virus (MPXV) infections show the risk of MPXV transmission that persists today and the significance of surveillance and quick response methods to stop the virus's spread. Currently, the monkeypox virus infection is not specifically treated. In this study, QSAR models were designed using known inhibitors of cysteine proteinase from the vaccinia virus, where the Random Forest model and Ridge model had showed the best correlation between predicted and observed EC.

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