Citrus Black Spot Symptoms on Fruit Exposed to Infections at Different Developmental Stages.

Citrus black spot (CBS), caused by , is an important fungal disease of citrus. Higher CBS severity has been associated with infections at the young and green stages of fruit. The length of the fruit susceptibility period may be influenced by the amount of inoculum and the climate of the citrus growing region.

Advancing Sustainable HIV Services Through Integration in Primary Healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Perspective on Practical Recommendations.

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to bear a disproportionate burden of the global HIV epidemic. Integrating HIV services into primary healthcare is a crucial strategy to accelerate progress towards ending the epidemic. However, several challenges hinder effective integration, including underfunding, human resource shortages, infrastructure limitations, weak health systems, and sociocultural factors.

A Bayesian framework for causal analysis of recurrent events with timing misalignment.

Observational studies of recurrent event rates are common in biomedical statistics. Broadly, the goal is to estimate differences in event rates under 2 treatments within a defined target population over a specified follow-up window. Estimation with observational data is challenging because, while membership in the target population is defined in terms of eligibility criteria, treatment is rarely observed exactly at the time of eligibility.

Closing the Loop in the Carbon Cycle: Enzymatic Reactions Housed in Metal-Organic Frameworks for CO Conversion to Methanol.

The preparation of value-added chemicals from carbon dioxide (CO) can act as a way of reducing the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. Industrially significant C1 chemicals like methanol (CHOH), formic acid (HCOOH), and formaldehyde (HCHO) can be formed from CO. One sustainable way of achieving this is by connecting the reactions catalyzed by the enzymes formate dehydrogenase (FDH), formaldehyde dehydrogenase (FALDH), and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) into a single cascade reaction where CO is hydrogenated to CHOH.

A Retrospective Analysis of Lessons Learned and Perspectives on Expansion of Verbal Autopsy Implementation in Zambia, 2023.

Accurate cause-of-death statistics are vital for public health policy, but less than one-third of deaths globally are assigned a cause. Verbal autopsy (VA) methods are crucial in low- and middle-income countries lacking complete civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems. We explored VA implementation in Zambia by using a previously developed framework.

Postpartum Women's Experiences of Postnatal Care in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Qualitative Evidence Synthesis.

Background: Postnatal care (PNC) is a critical service for the health and well-being of new mothers and newborns. However, in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), most efforts to improve maternal and child health have been directed toward enhancing skilled birth attendance and urgent obstetric and neonatal care. This is despite the fact that more than half of maternal deaths globally occur in the postnatal period, with 65% of these occurring in the first week following birth.

Exploring the Experiences and Perceptions of the Utilisation of Structured Clinical Handover Frameworks by Nurses Working in Acute Care Settings: A Scoping Review.

Background: There is increased interest in implementing structured clinical handover frameworks to improve clinical handover processes. Research postulates that structured clinical handover frameworks increase the quality of handovers; yet inconsistencies enacting these frameworks exist which has a potential to jeopardise the quality of communication during handovers thereby defeating the purpose of these frameworks.

Aim: This scoping review aims to analyse and synthesise what is currently known of the nurses' experiences and perceptions in implementing structured clinical handover frameworks and identify knowledge gaps in relation to this topic area.

Disparities in Access to Highly Rated Skilled Nursing Facilities among Medicare Beneficiaries with Opioid Use Disorder.

Objectives: To investigate disparities in admissions to highly rated skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) between Medicare beneficiaries with and without opioid use disorder (OUD).

Design: Nationwide, retrospective observational cohort.

Setting And Participants: Medicare Fee-for-Service beneficiaries aged ≥18 years admitted to SNFs following hospitalization during 2016-2020 (n = 30,922 with OUD and n = 137,454 without OUD).

Investigation of the antimycobacterial activity of African medicinal plants combined with chemometric analysis to identify potential leads.

The emergence of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains is a threat to global health necessitating the discovery of novel chemotherapeutic agents. Natural products drug discovery, which previously led to the discovery of rifamycins, is a valuable approach in this endeavor. Against this backdrop, we set out to investigate the in vitro antimycobacterial properties of medicinal plants from Ghana and South Africa, evaluating 36 extracts and their 252 corresponding solid phase extraction (SPE) generated fractions primarily against the non-pathogenic Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium aurum species.

Association of Opioid Use Disorder Diagnosis with Management of Acute Low Back Pain: A Medicare Retrospective Cohort Analysis.

Background: Practice guidelines recommend nonpharmacologic and nonopioid therapies as first-line pain treatment for acute pain. However, little is known about their utilization generally and among individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) for whom opioid and other pharmacologic therapies carry greater risk of harm.

Objective: To determine the association between a pre-existing OUD diagnosis and treatment of acute low back pain (aLBP).

Men's involvement in maternal health in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review of enablers and barriers.

Background: Globally, there are about 800 maternal deaths every day, with low-to-middle-income countries accounting for most of these deaths. A lack of access to maternal healthcare services is one of the main causes of these deaths. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), one of the barriers to accessing maternal healthcare services by women is a lack of their male partners' involvement.

Nurses' obesity knowledge, attitudes and practices in private facilities in Oshana, Namibia.

Background: The prevalence of obesity has been rising globally, and this is leading to an increase in other non-communicable diseases. The level of obesity knowledge among nurses may have an impact on how they treat and perceive obese patients.

Aim: The study aimed to ascertain the knowledge, attitudes and practices of nurses regarding obesity at private healthcare facilities located in Namibia's Oshana Region.

Perspectives on Admissions and Care for Residents With Opioid Use Disorder in Skilled Nursing Facilities.

Importance: Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) are being referred more individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD), even when their medical needs are not directly associated with OUD.

Objective: To characterize factors that influence SNF admission for individuals with OUD and identify strategies for providing medications for OUD (MOUD) in SNFs.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this semistructured qualitative study, interviews were conducted with SNF administrators from 27 SNFs in Rhode Island from November 5, 2021, to April 27, 2022.

An imprecise probability approach-based determination of over-represented southern African plant genera and families used in ethnopharmacology.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: The analyses of patterns of over-representation of southern African traditional medicinal plants at the genus and family level provide information about the differences in plant use among southern African countries and disease categories. 'Over-representation' refers to the phenomenon whereby the proportion of plants belonging to a taxonomic group is higher in ethnobotanical pharmacopoeia than in the total flora.

Aim Of The Study: This study aimed to use the Imprecise Dirichlet Model (IDM) to analyse data from ten southern African countries to establish how over-represented medicinal plant families compare with over-represented genera, how over-represented medicinal taxa differ among countries in this region of Africa, and how over-represented taxa differ among six major disease categories.

Exploring Barriers and Facilitators That Influence Uptake of Oral Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe: Key Stakeholder's Perspectives.

The world has been on the path to ending HIV and AIDS as a global threat by 2030; despite these efforts, the rate of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men remains very high. This study sought to explore the perceptions of key stakeholders on the potential barriers and facilitators of pre-exposure prophylaxis use among this key population. An exploratory, descriptive (through interviews) qualitative study was conducted on 10 key informants who were purposively selected and snowballed based on their knowledge and experience toward pre-exposure prophylaxis programming among men who have sex with men.

Treatment Patterns and Population Characteristics of Nonpharmacological Management of Chronic Pain in the United States' Medicare Population: A Scoping Review.

Background And Objectives: Clinical practice guidelines recommend noninvasive nonpharmacological pain therapies; however, reviews that assess the literature pertaining to nonpharmacological pain management among older adults and people with long-term disabilities who are disproportionately affected by pain are lacking. This scoping review aimed to systematically map and characterize the existing studies about the receipt of noninvasive, nonpharmacological pain therapies by Medicare beneficiaries.

Research Design And Methods: We conducted a literature search in MEDLINE (PubMed), CINAHL (EBSCO), SocINDEX (EBSCO), Cochrane Library, Web of Science citation indices, and various sources of gray literature.

Health effects of climate change in Africa: A call for an improved implementation of prevention measures.

The world's climate, particularly in Africa, has changed substantially during the past few decades, contributed by several human activities. Africa is one of the continents that is most vulnerable to climate change globally. Since the beginning of 2022, extreme weather events in Africa have affected about 19 million people and killed at least 4,000 individuals.

Risk factors and clinical presentations of long COVID in Africa: A scoping review.

COVID-19-related complications can last for years, even in patients who are asymptomatic during the acute phase, a phenomenon referred to as long COVID. This scoping review aimed to summarize the risk factors and clinical symptoms of long COVID in Africa between 2020 and 2022. Five studies were included.

Oral Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Accessibility, Knowledge, Barriers, and Facilitators Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Great strides have been made globally toward ending HIV and AIDS as a threat by 2030, although the rate of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men remains very high. Due to their risk of getting HIV and AIDS, utilization of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) can potentially reduce the risk of HIV transmission among this population. This study sought to analyze the accessibility, knowledge, and potential barriers and facilitators to assessing PrEP by men who have sex with men.

The HIV/AIDS responses pre and during the COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa: A basis for sustainable health system strengthening post-COVID-19.

In May 2023, the World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 was no longer a global emergency. The impact of COVID-19 on the provision of HIV/AIDS services was not that severe due to the reprogramming of key resources. For health systems in sub-Saharan Africa to become resilient to future pandemics, lessons should be learned from the successful HIV/AIDS response in the region, and how the HIV/AIDS services were successfully adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prioritised identification of structural classes of natural products from higher plants in the expedition of antimalarial drug discovery.

The emergence and spread of drug-recalcitrant Plasmodium falciparum parasites threaten to reverse the gains made in the fight against malaria. Urgent measures need to be taken to curb this impending challenge. The higher plant-derived sesquiterpene, quinoline alkaloids, and naphthoquinone natural product classes of compounds have previously served as phenomenal chemical scaffolds from which integral antimalarial drugs were developed.

Association of Opioid Use Disorder Diagnosis With Use of Physical Therapy and Chiropractic Care Among Chronic Low Back Pain Patients: A Group-Based Trajectory Analysis.

Nonpharmacologic approaches are recommended as first-line treatment for chronic pain, and their importance is heightened among individuals with co-occurring opioid use disorder (OUD), in whom opioid therapies may be particularly detrimental. Our objectives were to assess the receipt and trajectories of nonpharmacologic pain treatment and determine the association of OUD diagnosis with these trajectories. This retrospective cohort study used Medicare claims data from 2016 to 2018 and applied group-based trajectory models to identify distinct patterns of physical therapy (PT) or chiropractic care treatment over the 12 months following a new episode of chronic low back pain.

Leveraging off higher plant phylogenetic insights for antiplasmodial drug discovery.

The antimalarial drug-resistance conundrum which threatens to reverse the great strides taken to curb the malaria scourge warrants an urgent need to find novel chemical scaffolds to serve as templates for the development of new antimalarial drugs. Plants represent a viable alternative source for the discovery of unique potential antiplasmodial chemical scaffolds. To expedite the discovery of new antiplasmodial compounds from plants, the aim of this study was to use phylogenetic analysis to identify higher plant orders and families that can be rationally prioritised for antimalarial drug discovery.