Human-induced global warming, primarily attributed to the rise in atmospheric CO, poses a substantial risk to the survival of humanity. While most research focuses on predicting annual CO emissions, which are crucial for setting long-term emission mitigation targets, the precise prediction of daily CO emissions is equally vital for setting short-term targets. This study examines the performance of 14 models in predicting daily CO emissions data from 1/1/2022 to 30/9/2023 across the top four polluting regions (China, India, the USA, and the EU27&UK).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) training interventions on race inequalities experienced by healthcare professionals.
Design: Systematic review.
Data Sources: Cochrane, MEDLINE and Embase databases were searched from database inception to February 2024.
Background: Youth mental health is a growing concern in research, practice, and policy. Practice standards, guidelines, or strategies provide an invisible infrastructure that fosters equity, quality, and safety, potentially addressing inconsistencies and more effectively attending to the mental wellness of Black youth as a particular population of concern. This scoping review aimed to address the following question: What standards exist for the delivery of mental health services to Black youth in community, primary care, and educational settings? Due to a limited initial search yield on publications about standards for the delivery of mental health services for Black youth population, our goal was then to identify and map mental health standards, recommendations, or guidelines for the delivery of mental health services using the same settings to all youth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a pressing global health concern driven by inappropriate antibiotic use, which is in turn influenced by various social, systemic, and individual factors. This study, nested within FIND's AMR Diagnostic Use Accelerator clinical trial in Nepal, aimed to (i) explore the perspectives of patients, caregivers, and healthcare workers (HCWs) on antibiotic prescription adherence and (ii) assess the impact of a training and communication (T&C) intervention on adherence to antibiotic prescriptions.
Methods: Using qualitative, semi-structured interviews, pre-intervention and Day 7 follow-up components, and the Behaviour Change Wheel process, we investigated the facilitators of and barriers to the use and misuse of antibiotic prescriptions.
Background: Hypertension is a medical condition of public health concern that increases the risk of chronic noncommunicable diseases and mortalities. In recent years, understanding its coexistence with other comorbidities has been the focus of better management. However, the relationship between hypertension and depression or anxiety has been contentious issue, with diverse findings reported by different studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe increased use of hexavalent chromium (Cr) in various industrial applications has contributed to its elevated levels in the environment, especially the aquatic environment. Thus, there is the potential for accumulation of Cr in the tissues of aquatic organisms and consequent toxic effects. The toxic effects of Cr in aquatic organisms have been widely reported; however, little is known about the patterns of tissue accumulation of Cr and its toxicity in aquatic mollusks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Studies indicate a higher prevalence of mental health problems among immigrants, but findings on immigrant children and adolescents are mixed. We sought to understand the magnitude of differences in mental health indicators between immigrant and non-immigrant children and adolescents in Canada and the influence of age, sex, household income, and household education.
Methods: We completed a secondary analysis of data from the Canadian Health Measures Survey, using a pooled estimate method to combine data from four survey cycles.
Background: Increasing trends of antimicrobial resistance are observed around the world, driven in part by excessive use of antimicrobials. Limited access to diagnostics, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, contributes to diagnostic uncertainty, which may promote unnecessary antibiotic use. We investigated whether introducing a package of diagnostic tools, clinical algorithm, and training-and-communication messages could safely reduce antibiotic prescribing compared with current standard-of-care for febrile patients presenting to outpatient clinics in Uganda.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions are a known driver of antimicrobial resistance in settings with limited diagnostic capacity. This study aimed to assess the impact of diagnostic algorithms incorporating rapid diagnostic tests on clinical outcomes and antibiotic prescriptions compared with standard-of-care practices, of acute febrile illness cases at outpatient clinics in Shai-Osudoku and Prampram districts in Ghana.
Methods: This was an open-label, centrally randomized controlled trial in 4 health facilities.
We introduce the Antimicrobial Resistance Diagnostic Use Accelerator program, and the articles in this Supplement, which cover the program in 3 sub-Saharan Africa countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis meta-analysis included 3 randomized trials conducted in sub-Saharan Africa comparing the effects of point-of-care tests and diagnostic algorithms versus routine care on antibiotic prescriptions and clinical outcomes in ambulatory patients presenting at outpatient facilities with acute uncomplicated febrile illness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Low- and middle-income countries face significant challenges in differentiating bacterial from viral causes of febrile illnesses, leading to inappropriate use of antibiotics. This trial aimed to evaluate the impact of an intervention package comprising diagnostic tests, a diagnostic algorithm, and a training-and-communication package on antibiotic prescriptions and clinical outcomes.
Methods: Patients aged 6 months to 18 years with fever or history of fever within the past 7 days with no focus, or a suspected respiratory tract infection, arriving at 2 health facilities were randomized to either the intervention package or standard practice.
Background: Antibiotic prescribing practices are 1 of the contributing causes of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The study explored the key drivers and barriers to adherence to prescribing instructions among healthcare workers and outpatient attendees with the aim of developing a training and communication intervention to improve adherence to prescription.
Methods: Prior to randomized trials at 3 health centers in Uganda (Aduku, Kihihi, and Nagongera), a pre-intervention qualitative assessment was conducted to explore behavioral drivers for adherence to prescriptions and the communication of adherence messages.
Background: The aim was to explore behavioral factors relating to the prescription and communication of prescription-adherence messages for patients with acute febrile illness, from which to develop a training-and-communication (T&C) intervention to be delivered as part of a clinical trial.
Methods: The study undertook a content analysis of primary, qualitative data collection using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, informed by the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation (COM-B) theory of behavior, the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF), and Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) approach, in health facilities (39 health workers) and communities (66 community members) in the Shai-Osudoku District of Ghana.
Results: Health workers perceive that prescribers' and dispensers' communication with patients is influenced by the following factors: patient's educational level, existing disease conditions, health worker's workload, patient's religion, language barrier between health worker and patient, outcome of laboratory results, and medicine availability.
Background: This study explores the factors influencing patients and caregivers' adherence to prescription of healthcare workers (HCWs).
Methods: The study was conducted in Temnaore and Pella, in the Nanoro health district in Burkina Faso. HCWs and community members were purposively recruited from 4 communities seeking care at the selected primary healthcare facilities for the clinical trial to attend in-depth interviews and focus group discussions on the factors influencing adherence to prescription.
Introduction: Out of Hospital Emergency Care (OHEC) in Nigeria, the most populous country with the highest GDP in Africa, is considered inadequate. A better understanding of the current state of OHEC is essential to address the country's unique challenges and offer potential solutions.
Objectives: This paper sought to identify gaps, barriers, and facilitators in implementing an OHEC model in Nigeria and provide recommendations for improvement.
Background: Coffee bean weevil ( DeGeer) (Coleoptera: Anthribidae) infestation is a major challenge affecting processed, dried, and stored foods globally. However, the growth performance of this insect pest in processed and stored cassava, plantain, yam, and cocoyam is poorly understood. Resolving this will guide future biotechnological efforts on these food products.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Caesarean section (CS) is a potentially lifesaving obstetric procedure. However, there are concerns about the rising CS rate in many countries of the world including Nigeria. The Ten-Group Robson classification system is presently recommended as an effective monitoring tool for comparing CS rates and identifying target groups for intervention aimed at reducing the rates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The level of immunity against pathogens decreases with old age. As a result, the elderly may be regarded to be at increased risk of malaria morbidity and fatality. There is paucity of studies on malaria among the elderly population in Osun East district, Southwest Nigeria.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Drug Targets
December 2022
Ischemia-reperfusion injury is a complex hemodynamic pathology that is a leading cause of death worldwide and occurs in many body organs. Numerous studies have shown that mitochondria play an important role in the occurrence mechanism of ischemia-reperfusion injury and that mitochondrial structural abnormalities and dysfunction lead to the disruption of the homeostasis of the whole mitochondria. At this time, mitochondria are not just sub-organelles to produce ATP but also important targets for regulating ischemia-reperfusion injury; therefore, drugs targeting mitochondria can serve as a new strategy to treat ischemia-reperfusion injury.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCardiovasc Drugs Ther
February 2024
Sepsis is an increasingly worldwide problem; it is currently regarded as a complex life-threatening dysfunction of one or more organs as a result of dysregulated host immune response to infections. The heart is one of the most affected organs, as roughly 10% to 70% of sepsis cases are estimated to turn into sepsis-induced cardiomyopathy (SIC). SIC can be defined as a reversible myocardial dysfunction characterized by dilated ventricles, impaired contractility, and decreased ejection fraction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMyocardial ischaemia-reperfusion injury (MI/RI) refers to the further damage done to ischaemic cardiomyocytes when restoring blood flow. A large body of evidence shows that MI/RI is closely associated with excessive production of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species, mitochondrial calcium overload, disordered mitochondrial energy metabolism, mitophagy, mitochondrial fission, and mitochondrial fusion. According to the way it affects mitochondria, it can be divided into mitochondrial quality abnormalities and mitochondrial quantity abnormalities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction/background: Laparoscopic surgery is still at its budding phase in low resource countries. The reasons for this include poor financing of the health sector and lack of trained personnel. The aim of this article is to highlight our initial experiences, our challenges in setting up laparoscopic surgery in a private tertiary hospital in rural southwestern Nigeria, and to share our efforts towards alleviating these challenges.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPreterm birth accounts for the majority of perinatal mortality worldwide, and there remains no FDA-approved drug to prevent it. Recently, we discovered that the common drug excipient, N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMA), delays inflammation-induced preterm birth in mice by inhibiting NF-κB. Since we reported this finding, it has come to light that a group of widely used, structurally related aprotic solvents, including DMA, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and dimethylformamide (DMF), have anti-inflammatory efficacy.
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