Predictive models and determinants of mortality among T2DM patients in a tertiary hospital in Ghana, how do machine learning techniques perform?

Background: The increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in lower and middle - income countries call for preventive public health interventions. Studies from Africa including those from Ghana, consistently reveal high T2DM-related mortality rates. While previous research in the Ho municipality has primarily examined risk factors, comorbidity, and quality of life of T2DM patients, this study specifically investigated mortality predictors among these patients.

Visual, Refractive, Functional, and Patient Satisfaction Outcomes After Implantation of a New Extended Depth-of-Focus Intraocular Lens.

Purpose: To describe the visual, refractive, functional, and patient satisfaction outcomes of the Bi-Flex POB-MA 877PEY (Elon, Medicontur Medical Engineering Ltd. Zsámbék, Hungary) extended depth-of-focus intraocular lens (EDoF IOL).

Patients And Methods: This was a prospective longitudinal descriptive study.

American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy guideline on the diagnosis and management of GERD: summary and recommendations.

This clinical practice guideline from the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) provides an evidence-based approach for strategies to diagnose and manage GERD. This document was developed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation framework and serves as an update to the 2014 ASGE guideline on the role of endoscopy in the management of GERD. This updated guideline addresses the indications for endoscopy in patients with GERD as well as in the emerging population of patients who develop GERD after sleeve gastrectomy or peroral endoscopic myotomy.

Magnetic kirigami dome metasheet with high deformability and stiffness for adaptive dynamic shape-shifting and multimodal manipulation.

Soft shape-shifting materials offer enhanced adaptability in shape-governed properties and functionalities. However, once morphed, they struggle to reprogram their shapes and simultaneously bear loads for fulfilling multifunctionalities. Here, we report a dynamic spatiotemporal shape-shifting kirigami dome metasheet with high deformability and stiffness that responds rapidly to dynamically changing magnetic fields.

A Miseducation: Perspectives on Sexuality Education from Black Women in the US South.

Over the last three decades, the receipt of formal sexuality education has declined, with half of adolescents nationwide receiving the minimum Healthy People standard of sexuality education from 2015 to 2019. Further, racial and geographic inequities in sexuality education remain, with Black women and girls more likely to receive abstinence-only-until-marriage instruction. We sought to describe Black women's sexual education in two southern states, North Carolina and Georgia.

Wallets' explorations across non-fungible token collections.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are immutable and transferable tokens on blockchain networks, have been used to certify the ownership of digital images often grouped in collections. Depending on individual interests, wallets explore and purchase NFTs in one or more image collections. Among many potential factors of shaping purchase trajectories, this paper specifically examines how visual similarities between collections affect wallets' explorations.

Limiting Access to Resistance Training Equipment During the Off-Season: The Impact on Collegiate Pitching Metrics.

Gdovin, JR, Hogan, B, and Williams, CC. Limiting access to resistance training equipment during the off-season: the impact on collegiate pitching metrics. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2024-Resistance training has been shown to improve overhead throwing velocity, but it is unknown as to how limiting access to a strength and conditioning facility affects a baseball pitcher's readiness for the spring season.

Physical Activity and Pregnancy Norms Among Daasanach Semi-Nomadic Pastoralist Women in Northern Kenya.

Objectives: In subsistence populations, high physical activity is typically maintained throughout pregnancy. Market integration shifts activity patterns to resemble industrialized populations, with more time allocated to sedentary behavior. Daasanach semi-nomadic pastoralists living in northern Kenya face lifestyle heterogeneity due to the emergence of a market center.

Conversion of sleeve gastrectomy to Roux-en-Y laparoscopic gastric bypass: a comprehensive 14-year follow-up study on efficacy and outcomes.

Background: Failed sleeve gastrectomy (SG), defined by inadequate weight loss or weight regain and by reflux and structural complications, can be treated by a laparoscopic conversion to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB).

Objectives: To examine the efficacy and outcomes of conversion surgery over a 14-year follow-up period.

Setting: Government and private medical centers in university settings.

Association of social vulnerability factors with power outage burden in Washington state: 2018-2021.

Major power outages have risen over the last two decades, largely due to more extreme weather conditions. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the distribution of power outages and its relationship to social vulnerability and co-occurring hazards. We examined the associations between localized outages and social vulnerability factors (demographic characteristics), controlling for environmental factors (weather), in Washington State between 2018-2021.

American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy guideline on the role of endoscopy in the management of chronic pancreatitis: summary and recommendations.

This clinical practice guideline from the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) provides an evidence-based approach for the role of endoscopy in the management of chronic pancreatitis (CP). This document was developed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework. The guideline addresses effectiveness of endoscopic therapies for the management of pain in CP, including celiac plexus block, endoscopic management of pancreatic duct (PD) stones and strictures, and adverse events such as benign biliary strictures (BBSs) and pseudocysts.

Adoptive parents' racial colorblindness and adopted Korean adolescents' experiences of discrimination.

Objectives: Using longitudinal data, this study investigated the association between parent racial colorblindness and discrimination toward children (reported by both parents and adolescents) in transracial, transnational adoptive families.

Method: Eighty White adoptive parents with adopted Korean children (ages 5-12 years old) were surveyed in 2007 (Time 1 [T1]), and both parents and adolescents (ages 13-19 years old) were surveyed in 2014 (Time 2 [T2]). Parents completed a self-report measure of parent racial colorblindness toward their child at T1 and T2, and parents and adolescents completed a measure of discrimination experienced by adoptees at T2.

American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy guideline on the role of therapeutic EUS in the management of biliary tract disorders: summary and recommendations.

This clinical practice guideline from the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy provides an evidence-based approach for the role of therapeutic EUS in the management of biliary tract disorders. This guideline was developed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework and addresses the following: 1: The role of EUS-guided biliary drainage (EUS-BD) versus percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) in resolving biliary obstruction in patients after failed ERCP. 2: The role of EUS-guided hepaticogastrostomy versus EUS-guided choledochoduodenostomy in resolving distal malignant biliary obstruction after failed ERCP.

Impact of PROphet Test in Changing Physicians' Therapeutic Decision-Making for Checkpoint Immunotherapy in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.

Purpose: Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor (ICI) regimens are approved for first-line treatment of metastatic nononcogene-driven NSCLC. Guidelines do not differentiate which patients with PD-L1 ≥ 50% should receive ICI monotherapy. The clinically validated PROphet NSCLC plasma proteomic-based test is designed to inform this therapeutic decision.

Are Asian Americans BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)? Internalization of the model minority stereotype and COVID-19 racial bias on interracial solidarity toward Black Americans.

Objectives: Collective minoritized identities such as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) may promote cross-racial solidarity. However, Asian Americans occupy a racially triangulated position as the "buffer minority" stereotyped as both the model minority and perpetual foreigner, complicating their inclusion in the BIPOC identity. The present study examined how the model minority and perpetual foreigner stereotypes relate to Asian Americans' perceived belongingness and identification with the BIPOC identity and, in turn, their interracial solidarity toward Black Americans.