Acceptability of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine plus dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine in Papua New Guinea: a qualitative study.

Background: In moderate-to-high malaria transmission regions, the World Health Organization recommends intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) alongside insecticide-treated bed nets to reduce the adverse consequences of pregnancy-associated malaria. Due to high-grade Plasmodium falciparum resistance to SP, novel treatment regimens need to be evaluated for IPTp, but these increase pill burden and treatment days. The present qualitative study assessed the acceptability of IPTp-SP plus dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) in Papua New Guinea, where IPTp-SP was implemented in 2009.

Validity, reliability and clinical utility of ASSIST-Y in assessing risk of substance-related harm and dependence in Spanish male adolescents.

Background: Substance use among adolescents is strongly associated with adverse physical, mental health, and social outcomes. Prevention and early intervention can reduce the likelihood of future problems, but requires valid and reliable screening tools capable of assessing risk across a range of substances. This study assessed the validity, reliability, and clinical utility of the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST-Y) for adolescents aged 15-17 years.

Implementation strategies: lessons learned during an e-learning intervention to improve dietary behaviors and feeding practices in early childhood education and care.

Background: Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) centers play an important role in fostering healthy dietary habits. The Nutrition Now project focusing on improving dietary habits during the first 1000 days of life. Central to the project is the implementation of an e-learning resource aimed at promoting feeding practices among staff and healthy dietary behaviours for children aged 0-3 years in ECEC.

Cardiovascular health in perspective: a comprehensive five-year geodatabase of hospitalizations and environmental factors in Mashhad, Iran.

Objectives: This data note presents a comprehensive geodatabase of cardiovascular disease (CVD) hospitalizations in Mashhad, Iran, alongside key environmental factors such as air pollutants, built environment indicators, green spaces, and urban density. Using a spatiotemporal dataset of over 52,000 hospitalized CVD patients collected over five years, the study supports approaches like advanced spatiotemporal modeling, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to predict high-risk CVD areas and guide public health interventions.

Data Description: This dataset includes detailed epidemiologic and geospatial information on CVD hospitalizations in Mashhad, Iran, from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2020.

Therapeutic development to accelerate malaria control through intentional intervention layering.

The clinical development of novel vaccines, injectable therapeutics, and oral chemoprevention drugs has the potential to deliver significant advancements in the prevention of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. These innovations could support regions in accelerating malaria control, transforming existing intervention packages by supplementing interventions with imperfect effectiveness or offering an entirely new tool. However, to layer new medical tools as part of an existing programme, malaria researchers must come to an agreement on the gaps that currently limit the effectiveness of medical interventions for moderate to low transmission settings.

Is low-value care for persistent musculoskeletal pain more common in rural than urban areas? A scoping review.

Background: Low-value care refers to the provision of health services that confer little or no benefit to patients, or have the potential to incur unwarranted harms. A breadth of literature exists investigating geographical variations in rates of potential low-value interventions for musculoskeletal pain. This scoping review aimed to examine the provision of low-value care for osteoarthritis and lower back pain by degree of rurality (e.

Finding the right dose: a scoping review examining facilitation as an implementation strategy for evidence-based stroke care.

Background: Despite evidence supporting interventions that improve outcomes for patients with stroke, their implementation remains suboptimal. Facilitation can support implementation of research into clinical practice by helping people develop the strategies to implement change. However, variability in the amount (dose) and type of facilitation activities/facilitator roles that make up the facilitation strategies (content), may affect the effectiveness of facilitation.

Echocardiographic phenotypes of diabetic myocardial disorder: evolution over 15 months follow-up in the ARISE-HF trial.

Background: Diabetic myocardial disorder (DbMD, evidenced by abnormal echocardiography or cardiac biomarkers) is a form of stage B heart failure (SBHF) at high risk for progression to overt HF. SBHF is defined by abnormal LV morphology and function and/or abnormal cardiac biomarker concentrations.

Objective: To compare the evolution of four DbMD groups based on biomarkers alone, systolic and diastolic dysfunction alone, or their combination.

Healthcare practitioners as accomplices: a qualitative study of gender affirmation in a context of ambiguous regulation in Indonesia.

Background: The World Professional Association for Transgender Health guidelines Standards of Care 8 draw on ethical arguments based on individual autonomy, to argue that healthcare and other professionals should be advocates for trans people. Such guidelines presume the presence of medical services for trans people and a degree of consensus on medical ethics. Very little is known, however, about the ethical challenges associated with both providing and accessing trans healthcare, including gender affirmation, in the Global South.

Determining timeframes to death for imminently dying patients: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Clinicians are frequently asked 'how long' questions at end-of-life by patients and those important to them, yet predicting timeframes to death remains uncertain, even in the last weeks and days of life. Patients and families wish to know so they can ask questions, plan, make decisions, have time to visit and say their goodbyes, and have holistic care needs met. Consequently, this necessitates a more accurate assessment of empirical data to better inform prognostication and reduce uncertainty around time until death.

Plastome data provides new insights into population differentiation and evolution of Ginkgo in the Sichuan Basin of China.

Background: Ginkgo biloba L., an iconic living fossil, challenges traditional views of evolutionary stasis. While nuclear genomic studies have revealed population structure across China, the evolutionary patterns reflected in maternally inherited plastomes remain unclear, particularly in the Sichuan Basin - a potential glacial refugium that may have played a crucial role in Ginkgo's persistence.

Poorer objective but not subjective driving performance in drivers vulnerable to sleep loss effects during extended wake.

Sleepiness-related errors are a leading cause of driving accidents, requiring drivers to effectively monitor sleepiness levels. However, there are inter-individual differences in driving performance after sleep loss, with some showing poor driving performance while others show minimal impairment. This research explored if there are differences in self-reported sleepiness and driving performance in healthy drivers who exhibited vulnerability or resistance to objective driving impairment following extended wakefulness.

Barriers affecting the quality and consistency of barium studies in radiologists and registrars.

The barium swallow study is a fluoroscopic study which provides valuable insights into the motility, function and morphology of the pharynx, oesophagus, gastroesophageal junction, proximal stomach and duodenum. It has been observed that the skill of radiology doctors with barium swallow studies in adults has diminished. This reduced proficiency with barium swallow study is closely linked to and perpetuated by the heterogeneity of technique amongst radiologists.

Characterisation of Cannabis glandular trichome development reveals distinct features of cannabinoid biosynthesis.

Cannabis trichome development progresses in distinct phases that underpin the dynamic biosynthesis of cannabinoids and terpenes. This study investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying cannabinoid and terpenoid biosynthesis in glandular trichomes of Cannabis sativa (CsGTs) throughout their development. Female Cannabis sativa c.

Factors Associated with the Timing of Initial Visit to Healthcare Providers for Injured Workers with Low Back Pain Claims: A Multijurisdiction Retrospective Cohort.

Purpose: Evidence shows that patient outcomes following musculoskeletal injury have been associated with the timing of care. Despite the increasing number of injured workers presenting with low back pain (LBP) in primary care, little is known about the factors that are associated with the timing of initial healthcare provider visits. This study investigated factors that are associated with the timing of initial workers' compensation (WC)-funded care provider visits for LBP claims.

The genetics of non-syndromic dentinogenesis imperfecta: a systematic review.

Purpose: This systematic review aims to consolidate existing genetic and clinical data on non-syndromic dentinogenesis imperfecta (DI) to enhance understanding of its etiology.

Methods: Electronic databases were searched for genetic familial linkage studies published in English without time restrictions. Genetic familial linkage studies that reported cases of Shield's classifications: DI-II, DI-III or DD-II were included.

Shape-matching-based fracture reduction aid concept exemplified on the proximal humerus-a pilot study.

Purpose: Optimizing fracture reduction quality is key to achieve successful osteosynthesis, especially for epimetaphyseal regions such as the proximal humerus (PH), but can be challenging, partly due to the lack of a clear endpoint. We aimed to develop the prototype for a novel intraoperative C-arm-based aid to facilitate true anatomical reduction of fractures of the PH.

Methods: The proposed method designates the reduced endpoint position of fragments by superimposing the outer boundary of the premorbid bone shape on intraoperative C-arm images, taking the mirrored intact contralateral PH from the preoperative CT scan as a surrogate.

Dung predicts the global distribution of herbivore grazing pressure in drylands.

Dryland grazing sustains millions of people worldwide but, when poorly managed, threatens food security. Here we combine livestock and wild herbivore dung mass data from surveys at 760 dryland sites worldwide, representing independent measurements of herbivory, to generate high-resolution maps. We show that livestock and wild herbivore grazing is globally disconnected, and identify hotspots of herbivore activity across Africa, the Eurasian grasslands, India, Australia and the United States.

Predictive equation derived from 6,497 doubly labelled water measurements enables the detection of erroneous self-reported energy intake.

Nutritional epidemiology aims to link dietary exposures to chronic disease, but the instruments for evaluating dietary intake are inaccurate. One way to identify unreliable data and the sources of errors is to compare estimated intakes with the total energy expenditure (TEE). In this study, we used the International Atomic Energy Agency Doubly Labeled Water Database to derive a predictive equation for TEE using 6,497 measures of TEE in individuals aged 4 to 96 years.

Review of Impact of Risk Reduction Sessions on Sexual Behaviors in HIV Prevention Trials: Insights from Africa.

Over the past two decades, numerous HIV prevention trials have targeted thousands of young African women, aiming not only to reduce transmissions through biomedical interventions but also to promote safe sexual practices through intensive risk reduction sessions. The primary objective of this study was to review the impact of risk reduction sessions in HIV prevention trials conducted in Africa. We assessed changes in sexual behaviors among women enrolled in various biomedical intervention trials across the African region using both visual and quantitative evaluations.

Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons guidelines development: Clinical Practice Guideline Update Standard Operating Procedure.

Introduction: The SAGES Guidelines Committee creates evidence-based clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). Updates which incorporate new evidence into the guidelines are necessary to maintain relevance for clinical use. A description of our standard operating procedure for this process is described here, which contributes to SAGES' commitment to producing high-quality clinical recommendations.

Glycogen synthase GYS1 overactivation contributes to glycogen insolubility and malto-oligoglucan-associated neurodegenerative disease.

Polyglucosans are glycogen molecules with overlong chains, which are hyperphosphorylated in the neurodegenerative Lafora disease (LD). Brain polyglucosan bodies (PBs) cause fatal neurodegenerative diseases including Lafora disease and adult polyglucosan body disease (ABPD), for which treatments, biomarkers, and good understanding of their pathogenesis are currently missing. Mutations in the genes for the phosphatase laforin or the E3 ubiquitin ligase malin can cause LD.

Factors which influence social connection among cancer caregivers: an exploratory, interview study.

Background/aims: Social connectedness is increasingly recognised as influencing health outcomes in cancer caregivers; however, there is little understanding of factors which foster feelings of social connectedness among caregivers when providing care. We sought to examine from the caregivers' perspective, factors which contribute to perceived social connection when providing care to someone with cancer.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 caregivers of people with cancer.