Newborn morbidities and care procedures at the special newborn care units of Gandaki Province, Nepal: a retrospective study.

Background: Despite recent improvements in the overall health status of Nepal's population, newborn morbidities and mortalities have remained a challenge. This study explores the situation and care strategies for newborn health problems in the Gandaki Province of Nepal.

Methods: This is a retrospective hospital records analysis.

Cross-modal plasticity in children with cochlear implant: converging evidence from EEG and functional near-infrared spectroscopy.

Over the first years of life, the brain undergoes substantial organization in response to environmental stimulation. In a silent world, it may promote vision by (i) recruiting resources from the auditory cortex and (ii) making the visual cortex more efficient. It is unclear when such changes occur and how adaptive they are, questions that children with cochlear implants can help address.

A landscape of patient-derived cancer-associated fibroblast signals in endometrial cancers.

In conversation with endometrial tumor cells, the endometrial cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are the "partners in crime" of uterine neoplasm's highly heterogeneous tumor microenvironment (TME). We designed a laboratory-friendly method to culture endometrial CAFs on a patient-to-patient basis for studying the CAF-TME and CAF-tumor cell interaction(s). Here, we present a comprehensive characterization of endometrial CAFs derived from patients' tumor tissues (T) and tumor-adjacent normal tissues (N).

Brain connectivity networks underlying resting heart rate variability in acute ischemic stroke.

Acute strokes can affect heart rate variability (HRV), the mechanisms how are not well understood. We included 42 acute stroke patients (2-7 days after ischemic stroke, mean age 66 years, 16 women). For analysis of HRV, 20 matched controls (mean age 60.

Factors Associated with Total Laryngectomy Utilization in Patients with cT4a Laryngeal Cancer.

Background: Despite recommendations for upfront total laryngectomy (TL), many patients with cT4a laryngeal cancer (LC) instead undergo definitive chemoradiation, which is associated with inferior survival. Sociodemographic and oncologic characteristics associated with TL utilization in this population are understudied.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study utilized hospital registry data from the National Cancer Database to analyze patients diagnosed with cT4a LC from 2004 to 2017.

Audiovisual integration in children with cochlear implants revealed through EEG and fNIRS.

Sensory deprivation can offset the balance of audio versus visual information in multimodal processing. Such a phenomenon could persist for children born deaf, even after they receive cochlear implants (CIs), and could potentially explain why one modality is given priority over the other. Here, we recorded cortical responses to a single speaker uttering two syllables, presented in audio-only (A), visual-only (V), and audio-visual (AV) modes.

Motor Processing in Children With Cochlear Implants as Assessed by Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.

Auditory-motor and visual-motor networks are often coupled in daily activities, such as when listening to music and dancing; but these networks are known to be highly malleable as a function of sensory input. Thus, congenital deafness may modify neural activities within the connections between the motor, auditory, and visual cortices. Here, we investigated whether the cortical responses of children with cochlear implants (CI) to a simple and repetitive motor task would differ from that of children with typical hearing (TH) and we sought to understand whether this response related to their language development.

Tumor-TME Bipartite Landscape of PD-1/PD-L1 in Endometrial Cancers.

The bipartite landscape of tumor cells and stromal cells determines a tumor's response to treatment during disease management. In endometrial cancers (ECs), the mechanistic contribution of PD-L1/L2 and PD-1 signaling of the host's tumor microenvironment (TME) (CAF and immune cells) in the context of the tumor cells is elusive. To understand the tumor-stroma-immune crosstalk, we studied the compartmental pattern of PD-L1/L2 and PD-1 expression in EC tissues and their matched CAFs.

Dynamic networks differentiate the language ability of children with cochlear implants.

Background: Cochlear implantation (CI) in prelingually deafened children has been shown to be an effective intervention for developing language and reading skill. However, there is a substantial proportion of the children receiving CI who struggle with language and reading. The current study-one of the first to implement electrical source imaging in CI population was designed to identify the neural underpinnings in two groups of CI children with good and poor language and reading skill.

Auditory evoked response to an oddball paradigm in children wearing cochlear implants.

Objective: Although children with cochlear implants (CI) achieve remarkable success with their device, considerable variability remains in individual outcomes. Here, we explored whether auditory evoked potentials recorded during an oddball paradigm could provide useful markers of auditory processing in this pediatric population.

Methods: High-density electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded in 75 children listening to standard and odd noise stimuli: 25 had normal hearing (NH) and 50 wore a CI, divided between high language (HL) and low language (LL) abilities.

Modular segregation drives causality of the dynamic oscillatory network responses during threat processing.

Physiological responses to threat and stress stimuli entrain synchronized neural oscillations among cerebral networks. Network architecture and adaptation may play a critical role in achieving optimal physiological responses, while alteration can lead to mental dysfunction. We reconstructed cortical and sub-cortical source time series from high-density electroencephalography, which were then fed into community architecture analysis.

Attitude sustains longer than subjective norm and perceived behavioral control: Results of breast cancer screening educational intervention.

Breast malignancy is the most frequent carcinoma among females across the world and third-most in Nepal. Early diagnosis of breast cancer through breast health awareness and self-examination, in addition to mammography screening, is a highly feasible and useful technique in poorly resourced settings. However, their intentions, whether to modify behaviors or actions, remain debatable and less explained in the literature.

Patient-Derived Primary Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts Mediate Resistance to Anti-Angiogenic Drug in Ovarian Cancers.

Ovarian cancers rank first in both aggressiveness and dismal prognosis among gynecological neoplasms. The poor outcome is explained by the fact that most patients present with late-stage disease and progress through the first line of treatment. Ovarian neoplasms, especially epithelial ovarian cancers, are diagnosed at advanced/metastatic stages, often with a high angiogenesis index, one of the hallmarks of ovarian cancers with rapid progression and poor outcome as resistance to anti-angiogenic therapy develops.

Sensorimotor Cortical Activity during Respiratory Arousals in Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Intensity of respiratory cortical arousals (RCA) is a pathophysiologic trait in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients. We investigated the brain oscillatory features related to respiratory arousals in moderate and severe OSA. Raw electroencephalography (EEG) data recorded during polysomnography (PSG) of 102 OSA patients (32 females, mean age 51.

Antiviral and antibacterial properties of phloroglucinols: a review on naturally occurring and (semi)synthetic derivatives with potential therapeutic interest.

Phloroglucinol and derived compounds comprise a huge class of secondary metabolites widely distributed in plants and brown algae. A vast array of biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anticancer has been associated to this class of compounds. In this review, the available data on the antiviral and antibacterial capacity of phloroglucinols have been analyzed.

Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines for the Management of Recurrent and Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer: A Review.

Importance: Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) is prevalent globally and in the US. Management, particularly after disease recurrence, can be challenging, and exploring additional treatment modalities, such as therapeutic cancer vaccines, may offer an opportunity to improve outcomes in this setting.

Observations: This review provides an overview of the clinical efficacy of different treatment modalities that are currently available for the treatment of recurrent and metastatic HNSCC, including checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapies, with a detailed summary of the numerous T-cell vaccines that have been studied in the setting of HNSCC, as well as a detailed summary of B-cell therapeutic vaccines being investigated for various malignant tumors.

Knowledge, attitude and practices towards COVID-19 preventive measures among adults in Bhutan: A cross-sectional study.

The COVID-19 pandemic posed a major global health challenge. Preventive measures against the spread of COVID-19 require the involvement of all sections of society. Knowledge and attitude towards COVID-19 preventive measures influence human practices.

Percutaneous-Reinforced Osteoplasty: A Review of Emerging Treatment Strategies for Bone Interventions.

Percutaneous-reinforced osteoplasty is currently being investigated as a possible therapeutic procedure for fracture stabilization in high-risk patients, primarily in patients with bone metastases or osteoporosis. For these patients, a percutaneous approach, if structurally sound, can provide a viable method for treating bone fractures without the physiologic stress of anesthesia and open surgery. However, the low strength of fixation is a common limitation that requires further refinement in scaffold design and selection of materials, and may potentially benefit from tissue-engineering-based regenerative approaches.

Machine learning aided classification of tremor in multiple sclerosis.

Background: Tremors are frequent and disabling in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Characteristic tremor frequencies in MS have a broad distribution range (1-10 Hz), which confounds the diagnostic from other forms of tremors. In this study, we propose a classification method for distinguishing MS tremors from other forms of cerebellar tremors.

Quality improvement initiative to address bed shortage in the maternity ward at the National Referral Hospital.

Background And Aims: The shortage of beds at the maternity ward is ever increasing with an increasing trend in total birth and cesarean section deliveries thereby increasing the daily number of obstetric patients awaiting admission. This quality improvement (QI) project was conducted to mitigate the problem of bed shortage by implementing modified enhanced recovery after surgery in low-risk cesarean section mothers. We aimed to increase the process measure of second day postoperative discharge in low-risk cesarean section mothers admitted in the maternity ward from 0% to 25% over 2 months period.

Nanoformulations of curcumin and quercetin with silver nanoparticles for inactivation of bacteria.

Antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria to various types of antibiotics has resulted in the necessity of new effective strategies to get around this problem. In recent investigations, metal or metal oxide nanoparticles specifically silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been employed successfully to hinder antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. However, AgNPs at high concentrations have cytotoxicity for eukaryotic cells which, application of other biocompatible materials particularly plant secondary metabolites of curcumin and quercetin to reduce cytotoxicity is a critical affair.