Enhancing Miscanthus floridulus remediation of soil cadmium using Beauveria bassiana FE14: Plant growth promotion and microbial interactions.

Soil heavy metal pollution presents substantial risks to food security and human health. This study focused on the efficiency of plant growth-promoting fungus-Beauveria bassiana FE14 and Miscanthus floridulus on the synergistic remediation of soil Cd contamination. Results revealed that B.

Habitat fragmentation increases the risk of local extinction of small reptiles: A case study on Phrynocephalus przewalskii.

Habitat fragmentation represents a multifaceted global conservation threat, exerting both direct and indirect effects on individual animals and communities. Reptiles, particularly smaller species with limited migratory abilities, are especially vulnerable to these changes. This study examines how small reptiles adapt their life history strategies in fragmented habitats and determines whether their responses are primarily due to phenotypic plasticity or genetic adaptation.

Dysuria: Evaluation and Differential Diagnosis in Adults.

Dysuria, a feeling of pain or discomfort during urination, is often caused by urinary tract infection but can also be due to sexually transmitted infection, bladder irritants, skin lesions, and some chronic pain conditions. History is most often useful for finding signs of sexually transmitted infection, complicated infections, lower urinary symptoms in males, and noninfectious causes. Most patients presenting with dysuria should have a urinalysis performed.

High coverage and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccine uptake in two vulnerable areas in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh completed a primary series of COVID-19 vaccinations for about 86 individuals per 100 population as of 5 July 2023. However, ensuring higher coverage in vulnerable areas is challenging. We report on the COVID-19 vaccine uptake and associated factors among adults in two vulnerable areas in Bangladesh.

Effect of nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid) on hospitalization among adults with COVID-19: An electronic health record-based target trial emulation from N3C.

Background: Nirmatrelvir with ritonavir (Paxlovid) is indicated for patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) who are at risk for progression to severe disease due to the presence of one or more risk factors. Millions of treatment courses have been prescribed in the United States alone. Paxlovid was highly effective at preventing hospitalization and death in clinical trials.

Experiences and perceptions of respectful maternity care among mothers during childbirth in health facilities of Eastern province of Rwanda: An appreciative inquiry.

Introduction: The World Health Organization (WHO) has emphasized the importance of ensuring respectful and dignified childbirth experiences. However, many countries, including Rwanda, have documented negative experiences during childbirth. Identifying best practices can help uncover sustainable solutions for resource-limited settings rather than focusing solely on the challenges and negative aspects.

Intersection between individual, household, environmental and system level factors in defining risk and resilience for children in Kenya's ASAL: A qualitative study.

Introduction: Children growing up in arid and semi-arid regions of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) face heightened risks, often resulting in poor developmental outcomes. In Kenya, the arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL) exhibit the lowest health and developmental indicators among children. Despite these risks, some children grow up successfully and overcome the challenges.

Composition and functional diversity of soil and water microbial communities in the rice-crab symbiosis system.

Rice-crab co-culture is an environmentally friendly agricultural and aquaculture technology with high economic and ecological value. In order to clarify the structure and function of soil and water microbial communities in the rice-crab symbiosis system, the standard rice-crab field with a ring groove was used as the research object. High-throughput sequencing was performed with rice field water samples to analyze the species and abundance differences of soil bacteria and fungi.

The impact of shelter-in-place during the COVID-19 pandemic on social support for mental health recovery: A prescribing-oriented qualitative study of patient perspectives.

The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for social connectivity and mental health, especially during mandated shelter-in-place periods. For patients engaged in mental health treatment, the social impact of their shelter-in-place experience remains an area of active investigation. This is particularly relevant in the context of social prescribing, a growing area of clinical intervention where healthcare providers actively refer patients to local social resources or activities to enhance mental health and wellbeing.

Implementation outcomes of 1-3-7 focus investigation for malaria in a low transmission setting in Southern Province, Zambia: A mixed methods study.

Eleven countries have been certified as malaria free since 2016, but none of these are in subSaharan Africa where elimination challenges are unique. The 1-3-7 focus investigation approach is an implementation strategy that requires case reporting, case investigation/classification, and focal classification/response to be completed one, three, and seven days, respectively, after index case diagnosis. Real-time short-messaging-service reports are sent at each step to add accountability and data transparency.

The severity of coronary heart disease and the incidence of later diabetic retinopathy in diabetic population: A retrospective cohort study.

Objectives: The coronary heart disease (CHD) can influence the development of several diseases. The presence of CHD is correlated to a higher incidence of concurrent diabetic retinopathy (DR) in previous study. Herein, we aim to analyze the relationship between the CHD severity and following DR with different severity.

Woody species diversity, structure and community distribution along environmental gradients of Seqela Dry Afromontane forest in Northwestern Ethiopia.

Dry evergreen Afromontane forests are severely threatened due to the expansion of agriculture and overgrazing by livestock. The objective of this study was to investigate the composition of woody species, structure, regeneration status and plant communities in Seqela forest, as well as the relationship between plant community types and environmental variables. Systematic sampling was used to collect vegetation and environmental data from 52 (20 m x 20 m) (400 m2) plots.

Unhealthy behaviours associated with uncontrolled hypertension among adults in India- Insights from a national survey.

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are governed by a cluster of unhealthy behaviours and their determinants, like tobacco and alcohol, unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, overweight and obesity, pollution (air, water, and soil), and stress. Regulation of these unhealthy behaviours plays a crucial role in blood pressure control among individuals on hypertensive treatment, especially those suffering from uncontrolled hypertension. Hence, the present study aims at identifying the unhealthy behaviours associated with uncontrolled hypertension.

Comparison of mortality in people with type 2 diabetes between different ethnic groups: Systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.

Aims: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is more common in certain ethnic groups. This systematic review compares mortality risk between people with T2D from different ethnic groups and includes recent larger studies.

Methods: We searched nine databases using PRISMA guidelines (PROSPERO CRD42022372542).

Home intravenous diuretic administration for heart failure management: A scoping review.

Background: Heart failure (HF) significantly impacts healthcare systems due to high rates of hospital bed utilization and readmission rates. Chronic HF often leads to frequent hospitalizations due to recurrent exacerbations and a decline in patient health status. Intravenous (IV) diuretic administration is essential for treating worsening HF.

Exploring the impact of grazing on fecal and soil microbiome dynamics in small ruminants in organic crop-livestock integration systems.

In integrated crop-livestock systems, livestock graze on cover crops and deposit raw manure onto fields to improve soil health and fertility. However, enteric pathogens shed by grazing animals may be associated with foodborne pathogen contamination of produce influenced by fecal-soil microbial interactions. We analyzed 300 fecal samples (148 from sheep and 152 from goats) and 415 soil samples (272 from California and 143 from Minnesota) to investigate the effects of grazing and the presence of non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) or generic E.

Translation, adaptation and validation of an epilepsy screening instrument in two Ghanaian languages.

Introduction: The prevalence of epilepsy in sub-Saharan Africa varies considerably, and the exact estimate for Ghana remains unclear, particularly in peri-urban areas where data are scarce. More community-based studies are required to understand better the actual burden of epilepsy in these areas and the difficulties in accessing healthcare.

Objective: To adapt and validate a household survey epilepsy-screening instrument in Shai-Osudoku and Ningo-Prampram District of Greater Accra Region, Ghana.

Private, non-profit, and plantation: Oil palm smallholders in management-assistance programs vary in socio-demographics, attitudes, and management practices.

Smallholder farmers produce over 40% of global palm oil, the world's most traded and controversial vegetable oil. Awareness of the effects of palm oil production on ecosystems and human communities has increased drastically in recent years, with ever louder calls for the private and public sector to develop programs to support sustainable cultivation by smallholder farmers. To effectively influence smallholder practices and ensure positive social outcomes, such schemes must consider the variety in perspectives of farmers and align with their priorities.

Assessing the capture of sociodemographic information in electronic medical records to inform clinical decision making.

There is a growing need to document sociodemographic factors in electronic medical records to produce representative cohorts for medical research and to perform focused research for potentially vulnerable populations. The objective of this work was to assess the content of family physicians' electronic medical records and characterize the quality of the documentation of sociodemographic characteristics. Descriptive statistics were reported for each sociodemographic characteristic.

Permeability Benchmarking: Guidelines for Comparing , , and Measurements.

Permeability is a measure of the degree to which cells can transport molecules across biological barriers. Units of permeability are distance per unit time (typically cm/s), where accurate measurements are needed to define drug delivery in homeostasis and to model dysfunction occurring during disease. This perspective offers a set of community-led guidelines to benchmark permeability data across multidisciplinary approaches and different biological contexts.

Quality Diversity under Sparse Interaction and Sparse Reward: Application to Grasping in Robotics.

Quality-Diversity (QD) methods are algorithms that aim to generate a set of diverse and highperforming solutions to a given problem. Originally developed for evolutionary robotics, most QD studies are conducted on a limited set of domains'mainly applied to locomotion, where the fitness and the behavior signal are dense. Grasping is a crucial task for manipulation in robotics.

Survey of interactive evolutionary decomposition-based multiobjective optimization methods.

Interactive methods support decision-makers in finding the most preferred solution for multiobjective optimization problems, where multiple conflicting objective functions must be optimized simultaneously. These methods let a decision-maker provide preference information iteratively during the solution process to find solutions of interest, allowing them to learn about the trade-offs in the problem and the feasibility of the preferences. Several interactive evolutionary multiobjective optimization methods have been proposed in the literature.

Distribution and Environmental Preference of Potential Mercury Methylators in Paddy Soils across China.

The neurotoxin methylmercury (MeHg) is produced mainly from the transformation of inorganic Hg by microorganisms carrying the gene pair. Paddy soils are known to harbor diverse microbial communities exhibiting varying abilities in methylating inorganic Hg, but their distribution and environmental drivers remain unknown at a large spatial scale. Using gene amplicon sequencing, this study examined Hg-methylating communities from major rice-producing paddy soils across a transect of ∼3600 km and an altitude of ∼1300 m in China.

Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Contraception, Pregnancy, and Pregnancy Termination Rates.

Objective: To investigate the effects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its elimination of cost sharing on contraception utilization, pregnancy rates, and abortion rates.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study within a health care system serving more than 4.5 million insured members across 21 medical centers and 250 clinics.