The evolutionary advantage of artemisinin production by Artemisia annua.

Artemisinin, a potent antimalarial compound, is predominantly derived from Artemisia annua. The uniqueness of artemisinin production in A. annua lies in its complex biochemical pathways and genetic composition, distinguishing it from other plant species, even within the Asteraceae family.

The Relationship between Health Literacy and COVID-19 Vaccination Prevalence during a Rapidly Evolving Pandemic and Infodemic.

The gap between how health information is communicated and what people understand and can use to make informed health decisions is called health literacy. This gap was exacerbated by the rapidly changing and excessive volume of information, misinformation, and disinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. People with lower health literacy may not have understood the importance of COVID-19 vaccination for themselves or for their communities.

Factors Impacting Vaccine Uptake during Pregnancy: A Retrospective Analysis.

Background And Objective: Vaccine uptake rates during pregnancy remain below target goals due to a convergence of factors. In particular, women of lower socioeconomic means and racial minorities typically have reduced rates of vaccine acceptance. This study aims to identify additional factors contributing to vaccine acceptance within a sample population of women receiving prenatal care in Houston, Texas, United States of America.

Place Is Power: Investing in Communities as a Systemic Leverage Point to Reduce Breast Cancer Disparities by Race.

Racial disparities in breast cancer present a vexing and complex challenge for public health. A diverse array of factors contributes to disparities in breast cancer incidence and outcomes, and, thus far, efforts to improve racial equity have yielded mixed results. Systems theory offers a model that is well-suited to addressing complex issues.

The Effects of Exclusive Walking on Lipids and Lipoproteins in Women with Overweight and Obesity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of walking, independent of diet and weight-loss, on lipids and lipoproteins in women with overweight and obesity.

Data Source: Academic Search Complete, Alternative Health Watch, Global Health, Health Source, CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, SportDiscus, and ProQuest.

Study Inclusion And Exclusion Criteria: (1) experiment-control design; (2) women with overweight or obesity; (3) walking as the experiment's independent variable; (4) four or more weeks; and (5) pre- to post-assessment of lipids and/or lipoproteins.

The Role of Stress in Breast Cancer Incidence: Risk Factors, Interventions, and Directions for the Future.

Stress is a common belief among breast cancer patients and the public to explain variation in breast cancer incidence. Epidemiological studies interrogating the relationship between stress and cancer have reported mixed results. The impact of the topic and the lack of consensus has sparked this review of the literature to investigate gaps in knowledge and identify areas of research.

Investigating improvements in premature death in two rural, majority-minority counties in the south.

This exploratory study investigates counties in the southeast United States with mortality outcomes that were better than might be expected given their sociodemographic profiles (i.e., positive deviance).

Lifestyle Modification Practices and Drug Prescription Use in Elderly Americans with Metabolic Syndrome: A Nationwide Population-Based Study.

Aim: To determine differences in lifestyle modification practices and use of prescription drugs in a representative sample of Mexican American (MA), non-Hispanic White (NHW), and non-Hispanic Black (NHB) elderly Americans with metabolic syndrome (MetS).

Methods: Data from the United States National Health and Nutritional Examination Surveys were used in this study. Lifestyle modification practices include ongoing physical activity, weight control, and ongoing diet modifications.

Community-Based Participatory Approach to Increase African Americans' Access to Healthy Foods in Atlanta, GA.

African Americans in Atlanta, Georgia disproportionately reside in communities with limited access to healthy foods. Collaborations with local corner stores to provide healthy food options have been identified as an evidence-based intervention that could be used to increase food access. This paper describes the community-based participatory approach used to culturally-tailor a Healthy Corner Store Initiative (HCSI) in five Atlanta communities.

Increasing Community Readiness for Childhood Obesity Prevention: A Case Study of Four Communities in Georgia.

The community readiness model (CRM) was used to assess changes in community readiness across four counties in Georgia that were targeted as part of a 3-year Childhood Obesity Prevention Program. Key respondent interviews were conducted with community stakeholders in 2012 (n = 20) and 2017 (n = 18) using a semistructured questionnaire assessing six dimensions of community readiness (i.e.

Surrogate indexes of insulin resistance and risk of metabolic syndrome in non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black and Mexican American.

Aim: To compare the strength of associations between surrogate indexes of insulin resistance (sIR) and risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in non-Hispanic White (NHW), non-Hispanic Black (NHB) and Mexican American (MA) adults.

Methods: The 2013-2016 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data (n = 3435) were used for this study. The associations between sIR that includes Triglyceride/HDL cholesterol ratio (TG/HDL-C), triglyceride glucose (TG) index, visceral adiposity index (VAI), lipid accumulation product (LAP), TG-body mass index (TG-BMI), and TG-waist circumference (TG-WC) and risk for MetS were determined using the prevalence odds ratio (OR) from the logistic regression analyses.

Global Implementation of Obesity Prevention Policies: a Review of Progress, Politics, and the Path Forward.

Purpose Of Review: This review describes policy and regulatory strategies to prevent obesity and summarizes worldwide progress and impediments to scaling up strategies globally.

Recent Findings: While there is considerable variation in the breadth and depth of uptake of recommended strategies, the adoption of effective obesity prevention policies has been slow and inconsistent. There is broad consensus that strong government, corporate, and consumer actions, including regulatory measures, are needed to advance obesity prevention policies.

Chronic medical conditions based obesity phenotypes: A two-step cluster analysis of a representative sample of obese American adults.

Background And Objective: Although obesity is a heterogeneous disease, little is known regarding chronic medical conditions (CMCs) that defines variability in obese populations. The characterization of obese populations using CMCs rather than categorization using BMI alone can advance understanding of obesity. The aims of this study are to phenotype obesity in a large representative sample of non-Hispanic White (NHW), non-Hispanic Black (NHB) and Mexican American (MA) obese adults using CMCs, and assess relationship between resulting phenotypes and self-rated health (SRH).

Developing Core Capabilities for Local Health Departments to Engage in Land Use and Transportation Decision Making for Active Transportation.

Objective: To develop a core set of capabilities and tasks for local health departments (LHDs) to engage in land use and transportation policy processes that promote active transportation.

Design: We conducted a 3-phase modified Delphi study from 2015 to 2017.

Setting: We recruited a multidisciplinary national expert panel for key informant interviews by telephone and completion of a 2-step online validation process.

Effect of Elective Sigmoidectomy for Diverticulitis on Bowel Function Patient-Reported Outcomes.

Introduction: Diverticular disease is common worldwide. A subset of these patients will choose to undergo elective surgical resection because of symptoms or complicated disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in bowel function after elective sigmoid resection for diverticular disease.

Clinical update on thrombolytic use in pulmonary embolism: A focus on intermediate-risk patients.

Purpose: Current literature on clinical controversies surrounding the use of thrombolytic agents in patients with intermediate-risk pulmonary embolism (PE) is reviewed.

Summary: PE is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. When used in conjunction with anticoagulation, thrombolysis has been shown to reduce hemodynamic decompensation in select patients, but thrombolytic therapy is associated with high risks of bleeding and intracranial hemorrhage and its role in treating patients with intermediate-risk PE remains controversial.

MicroRNA-7 mediates cross-talk between metabolic signaling pathways in the liver.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as critical regulators of cellular metabolism. To characterise miRNAs crucial to the maintenance of hepatic lipid homeostasis, we examined the overlap between the miRNA signature associated with inhibition of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-α (PPAR-α) signaling, a pathway regulating fatty acid metabolism, and the miRNA profile associated with 25-hydroxycholesterol treatment, an oxysterol regulator of sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP) and liver X receptor (LXR) signaling. Using this strategy, we identified microRNA-7 (miR-7) as a PPAR-α regulated miRNA, which activates SREBP signaling and promotes hepatocellular lipid accumulation.

Qualitative Exploration of Cross-Sector Perspectives on the Contributions of Local Health Departments in Land-Use and Transportation Policy.

Introduction: Transportation and land-use policies can affect the physical activity of populations. Local health departments (LHDs) are encouraged to participate in built-environment policy processes, which are outside their traditional expertise. Cross-sector collaborations are needed, yet stakeholders' perceptions of LHD involvement are not well understood.

Adopting State-Level Policy to Support Physical Activity Among School-Aged Children and Adolescents: Georgia's SHAPE Act.

Physical inactivity among children is a public health problem associated with low levels of fitness, obesity, and increased risk of chronic diseases. Public health experts have identified policies targeting physical activity as a promising strategy to address this challenge. Understanding the process by which such policies are adopted may help to facilitate progress nationally.

Assessing the effect of physical activity classes in public spaces on leisure-time physical activity: "Al Ritmo de las Comunidades" A natural experiment in Bogota, Colombia.

The Recreovia program provides free physical activity (PA) classes in public spaces in Bogota, Colombia. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the Recreovia program in increasing PA among users of nine parks in Bogota. This study was a natural experiment conducted between 2013 and 2015 in Bogota.

Perceived not actual overweight is associated with excessive school absenteeism among U.S. adolescents.

Background: Excess body weight has been reported to be associated with excessive school absenteeism (ESA), but less is known about the association with perceived body weight. The study objective was to weigh the relative influence of perceived and measured weight status on school attendance.

Methods: We used the data from 3113 adolescents age 12-19 years who were interviewed as a part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), 2003-2008.

Improving Detection of Prediabetes in Children and Adults: Using Combinations of Blood Glucose Tests.

Highlights: The combined use of fasting plasma glucose and hemoglobin A1c test is associated with significantly higher diagnostic rates of prediabetes across age, race/ethnicity, and BMI than using only one test.Combined use of fasting plasma glucose, hemoglobin A1c, and oral glucose tolerance test do not improve the overall and gender-specific prediabetes prevalence beyond what is observed using a combination fasting plasma glucose and hemoglobin A1c test.A redefined hemoglobin A1c test that incorporates racial/ethnic, gender, age, and BMI differences may provide a better way to use hemoglobin A1c test in population-based and clinical settings.

MicroRNAs regulate the immunometabolic response to viral infection in the liver.

Immune regulation of cellular metabolism can be responsible for successful responses to invading pathogens. Viruses alter their hosts' cellular metabolism to facilitate infection. Conversely, the innate antiviral responses of mammalian cells target these metabolic pathways to restrict viral propagation.