Emerging public health challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi: A review.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has posed new and has aggravated already existing public health challenges in Malawi and worldwide. Having a better understanding of these challenges can help facilitate the identification of solutions and designing further public health interventions and policies for effective management of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article presents an overview of the situation of COVID-19 in Malawi and identifies emerging public health challenges that the country is facing amidst this pandemic.

Isolated Hodgkin lymphoma of the intracranial dura: A case report and review of the literature.

Primary dural Hodgkin lymphoma (PDHL) is an extremely rare subset of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). Its existence is controversial, as Hodgkin lymphoma is not traditionally thought to arise from the central nervous system (CNS) or its meninges and only 0.02% of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma have any CNS involvement.

Influence of the Social Environment on Ideal Cardiovascular Health.

Background The environment plays a large role in the health of individuals; however, more research is needed to better understand aspects of the environment that most influence health. Specifically, our study examines how the social environment influences cardiovascular health (CVH). Methods and Results The social environment was characterized using measures of belonging and life and work stress in individuals, as well as nationally derived measures of marginalization, deprivation, economic status, and community well-being in neighborhoods.

Demographic and pathologic factor regression to a growth rate model of p16-negative oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma.

Objectives: The current study aims to quantify the growth rate of p16-negative oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma, characterize causative relationships between demographic risk factors and tumor growth, and examine pathologic findings associated with the tumor growth rate at a tertiary care institution. It is hypothesized that causative relationships will be drawn between the individual sociodemographic and pathologic factors and oral cavity p16-negative squamous cell carcinoma growth rate.

Methods: Prospectively recruited participants, receiving surgical intervention only, were followed from initial staging CT scan to surgical resection.

Clinical validation of the parent-report Toronto Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (TOCS): A pediatric open-source rating scale.

Background: There is a need to develop a multipurpose obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) measure that is useful for cross disorder research and as a reliable clinical rating scale. The current study examined the psychometric properties and established clinical cutoffs for the parent-report version of the Toronto Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (TOCS), a 21-item rating scale of obsessive-compulsive traits.

Method: Participants ranged in age from 6 to 21 years old and had a primary diagnosis of OCD ( = 350, 50% female), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) ( = 820, 25% female), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) ( = 794, 22% female), or were typically developing controls ( = 391, 51% female).

Pathway-extended gene expression signatures integrate novel biomarkers that improve predictions of patient responses to kinase inhibitors.

Cancer chemotherapy responses have been related to multiple pharmacogenetic biomarkers, often for the same drug. This study utilizes machine learning to derive multi-gene expression signatures that predict individual patient responses to specific tyrosine kinase inhibitors, including erlotinib, gefitinib, sorafenib, sunitinib, lapatinib and imatinib. Support vector machine (SVM) learning was used to train mathematical models that distinguished sensitivity from resistance to these drugs using a novel systems biology-based approach.

Resolving severe oligohydramnios as an early prenatal presentation of renal coloboma syndrome-A report of two generations.

This report suggests that self-resolving oligohydramnios is an early sign of malfunctioning kidney in individuals with renal coloboma syndrome (RCS) and demonstrates how a genetic diagnosis can impact patient and fetal management as it outlines two generations of RCS.

Association of Arthritis Onset with Influenza: Analysis of the Canadian Early Inflammatory Arthritis Cohort.

Objective: To evaluate seasonal patterns of early inflammatory arthritis (IA) onset and potential associations with IA symptom onset.

Methods: The Canadian Early Arthritis Cohort (CATCH) is an inception cohort study of adults with early (12 months or less) IA. We used patient reports of symptom onset as a proxy of IA onset and examined the seasonal distribution of IA onset over 10 years.

Sapropterin Treatment Prevents Congenital Heart Defects Induced by Pregestational Diabetes Mellitus in Mice.

Background Tetrahydrobiopterin is a cofactor of endothelial NO synthase ( eNOS ), which is critical to embryonic heart development. We aimed to study the effects of sapropterin (Kuvan), an orally active synthetic form of tetrahydrobiopterin on eNOS uncoupling and congenital heart defects ( CHD s) induced by pregestational diabetes mellitus in mice. Methods and Results Adult female mice were induced to pregestational diabetes mellitus by streptozotocin and bred with normal male mice to produce offspring.

mitoTev-TALE: a monomeric DNA editing enzyme to reduce mutant mitochondrial DNA levels.

Pathogenic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations often co-exist with wild-type molecules (mtDNA heteroplasmy). Phenotypes manifest when the percentage of mutant mtDNA is high (70-90%). Previously, our laboratory showed that mitochondria-targeted transcription activator-like effector nucleases (mitoTALENs) can eliminate mutant mtDNA from heteroplasmic cells.

Associations of fibroblast growth factor 23, vitamin D and parathyroid hormone with 5-year outcomes in a prospective primary care cohort of people with chronic kidney disease stage 3.

Objectives: Vitamin D deficiency, elevated fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) and elevated parathyroid hormone (PTH) have each been associated with increased mortality in people with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Previous studies have focused on the effects of FGF23 in relatively advanced CKD. This study aims to assess whether FGF23 is similarly a risk factor in people with early CKD, and how this risk compares to that associated with vitamin D deficiency or elevated PTH.

Community emergency department utilization following a natural disaster (the Goderich Tornado).

Introduction: On 21 August 2011 an F3 tornado hit the Canadian town of Goderich, Ontario, leaving 40 people injured and one dead. Specific medium-term changes in utilization of health care following a disaster have not been analyzed in medical literature. Documenting the emergency department utilization through this subacute period would be helpful to enable institutions and healthcare practitioners to be better prepared for future events.

Cannabinoid transmission in the prefrontal cortex bi-phasically controls emotional memory formation via functional interactions with the ventral tegmental area.

Disturbances in cortical cannabinoid CB1 receptor signaling are well established correlates of various neuropsychiatric disorders, including depression and schizophrenia. Importantly, the ability of cannabinoid transmission to modulate emotional processing is functionally linked to interactions with subcortical DA systems. While considerable evidence demonstrates that CB1 receptor-mediated modulation of emotional processing and related behaviors follows a biphasic functional curve, little is known regarding how CB1 signaling within cortical networks may interact with subcortical DAergic systems involved in emotional behavior regulation.

Towards an anti-fibrotic therapy for scleroderma: targeting myofibroblast differentiation and recruitment.

Background: In response to normal tissue injury, fibroblasts migrate into the wound where they synthesize and remodel new extracellular matrix. The fibroblast responsible for this process is called the myofibroblast, which expresses the highly contractile protein alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA). In normal tissue repair, the myofibroblast disappears.

Anti-hypertrophic effect of NHE-1 inhibition involves GSK-3beta-dependent attenuation of mitochondrial dysfunction.

Although Na(+)-H(+) exchanger 1 (NHE-1) inhibition has been demonstrated to have anti-hypertrophic effect indirectly through mitochondria, the detailed cellular mechanisms mediating this effect remain elusive. In this study we sought to determine whether NHE-1 inhibition exerts an anti-hypertrophic effect by modulating the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) opening through the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)/glycogen synthase kinase 3beta (GSK-3beta) pathway during hypertrophy in cardiomyocytes. An in vivo model of hypertrophy was induced in male Sprague-Dawley rats by subjecting them to 3, 7 or 28 days of coronary artery ligation (CAL).