Legumes as a Substitute for Red and Processed Meat, Poultry or Fish, and the Risk of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in a Large Cohort.

Background: Dietary recommendations have globally shifted towards promoting the consumption of legumes as an environmentally friendly and healthy source of protein. This study investigated the replacement of red and processed meat, poultry or fish for equal amounts of legumes on the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Methods: UK Biobank participants who completed ≥ 2 dietary assessments and had complete covariate information were included in the analyses (N = 124,546).

Global Prevalence and Subtype Distribution of Blastocystis sp. in Rodent Populations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: The present systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to gather and analyse global data on the prevalence, subtypes (STs) distribution and zoonotic potential of Blastocystis sp. in rodents.

Methods: A systematic literature search was performed across multiple databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and ProQuest) for studies published by 23 July 2024.

Enhanced heart sound classification using Mel frequency cepstral coefficients and comparative analysis of single vs. ensemble classifier strategies.

This paper seeks to enhance the performance of Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) for detecting abnormal heart sounds. Heart sounds are first pre-processed to remove noise and then segmented into S1, systole, S2, and diastole intervals, with thirteen MFCCs estimated from each segment, yielding 52 MFCCs per beat. Finally, MFCCs are used for heart sound classification.

Perioperative immunonutrition intervention on postoperative outcomes among gynecological cancer patients under enhanced recovery after surgery setting: A study protocol of explanatory mixed method study.

Background & Aims: Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) has shown significant improvements in postoperative outcomes and a reduction in complications, while immunonutrition (IMN) has been shown to modulate the immune system and inflammatory response. However, many studies have overlooked the crucial aspects of nutrition status and patient perception within the intervention approach. This study aims to investigate the efficacy and explore patients' acceptance of the IMN intervention in postoperative outcomes among gynecological cancer (GC) patients under the ERAS framework.

Quality assessment and umbrella review of systematic reviews about dance for people with Parkinson's disease.

Objective(s): To determine (1) the quality of systematic reviews about dance-based intervention in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) and (2) standard evidence for dance-based intervention efficacy based on the categories of The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) from the World Health Organization's (WHO).

Methods: The data source included MEDLINE, PUBMED, Embase, Scopus, CENTRAL (Cochrane Library), CINAHL, PEDro, SPORTDiscus, APA PsycNet (APA PsycINFO), LILACS, SciELO, and AMED. Pairs of independent reviewers screened titles, abstracts, and full texts of eligible studies by using the software Covidence.

Barriers and facilitators for cardiopulmonary resuscitation discussions with people with heart failure.

Background: Care planning with people with advanced heart failure enables appropriate care, and prevents futile interventions, such as cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Aim: To explore what motivates clinicians to conduct, and people with heart failure and their carers, to engage in well-conducted CPR discussions.

Methods: In-depth remote interviews with i) people with heart failure and self-reported daily symptoms (≥ 3 months), ii) informal carers and, iii) clinicians recruited through social media and professional groups, team contacts and snowballing.

"Energetics of the outer retina I: Estimates of nutrient exchange and ATP generation".

Photoreceptors (PRs) are metabolically demanding and packed at high density, which presents a challenge for nutrient exchange between the associated vascular beds and the tissue. Motivated by the ambition to understand the constraints under which PRs function, in this study we have drawn together diverse physiological and anatomical data in order to generate estimates of the rates of ATP production per mm2 of retinal surface area. With the predictions of metabolic demand in the companion paper, we seek to develop an integrated energy budget for the outer retina.

The sexual and reproductive health needs and preferences of youths in sub-Saharan Africa: A meta-synthesis.

The sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs of youths in sub-Saharan Africa are not being fully met, as evidenced by high rates of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections in this population. Understanding service needs and preferences of sub-Saharan African youths aged 10-24 years is critical for improving access and SRH outcomes and the focus of this systematic review of qualitative research. Four databases were searched with key words to identify relevant studies, supplemented by citation search, with an update in June 2023.

Effectiveness of physiotherapist-led exercise interventions for burn rehabilitation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Exercise is utilised by physiotherapists to prevent complications and improve overall function and quality of life post-burn. However, the effect of physiotherapist-led exercise has not been comprehensively reviewed. Consequently, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of physiotherapy exercises for persons' post-burn.

A matter of timing: Biting by malaria-infected Anopheles mosquitoes and the use of interventions during the night in rural south-eastern Tanzania.

Knowing when and where infected mosquitoes bite is required for estimating accurate measures of malaria risk, assessing outdoor exposure, and designing intervention strategies. This study combines secondary analyses of a human behaviour survey and an entomological survey carried out in the same area to estimate human exposure to malaria-infected Anopheles mosquitoes throughout the night in rural villages in south-eastern Tanzania. Mosquitoes were collected hourly from 6PM to 6AM indoors and outdoors by human landing catches in 2019, and tested for Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite infections using ELISA.

NATE: Non-pArameTric approach for Explainable credit scoring on imbalanced class.

Credit scoring models play a crucial role for financial institutions in evaluating borrower risk and sustaining profitability. Logistic regression is widely used in credit scoring due to its robustness, interpretability, and computational efficiency; however, its predictive power decreases when applied to complex or non-linear datasets, resulting in reduced accuracy. In contrast, tree-based machine learning models often provide enhanced predictive performance but struggle with interpretability.

Socioeconomic inequalities in high-risk fertility behaviors over time in Ethiopia.

Introduction: High-risk fertility behaviors (HRFB), including short birth intervals, early or late childbearing age, and high parity, are associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Understanding the importance of socioeconomic disparity in HRFB and the factors influencing this disparity is essential to improve maternal and child survival, Accordingly, this study investigated socioeconomic inequalities in HRFB over time and its contributing factors.

Methods: We included a total weighted sample of 11,163 and 5,527 women aged 15 to 49 years from the 2005 and 2019 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Surveys, respectively.

Predefined and data-driven CT radiomics predict recurrence-free and overall survival in patients with pulmonary metastases treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy.

Background: This retrospective study explores two radiomics methods combined with other clinical variables for predicting recurrence free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with pulmonary metastases treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT).

Methods: 111 patients with 163 metastases treated with SBRT were included with a median follow-up time of 927 days. First-order radiomic features were extracted using two methods: 2D CT texture analysis (CTTA) using TexRAD software, and a data-driven technique: functional principal components analysis (FPCA) using segmented tumoral and peri-tumoural 3D regions.

Health and economic impact of caregiving on informal caregivers of people with chronic diseases in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review.

With a disproportionate burden of chronic diseases and severe shortage of health workers in sub-Saharan Africa, the region implicitly relies on informal caregivers (ICGs) to support the patients both within and outside the health facilities. The aim of this review is to systematically summarise evidence on the health and economic impact of caregiving on informal caregivers of patients with chronic diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. Medline (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCOhost), PsycINFO (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), Global Health, and Web of Science databases were systematically searched to identify original articles that considered the economic and/or health impacts of caregiving in sub-Saharan Africa.

Health outcome priorities of people with multiple long-term conditions using the outcome prioritisation tool in the UK: A survey study and feasibility assessment.

Background: The outcome prioritisation tool (OPT) is a simple tool to ascertain the health outcome priorities of people with MLTC. Use of this tool in people aged under 65 years with MLTC has not previously been investigated. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of using the OPT in people with MLTC aged 45 years or above, in a multi-ethnic primary-care setting and describe the health outcome priorities of people with MLTC by age, clusters of long-term conditions and demographic factors, and to investigate any differences in prioritisation in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

BOAS in the Boston Terrier: A healthier screw-tailed breed?

Brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) is well documented in the three most popular brachycephalic dog breeds of the UK and several other countries: French Bulldogs, Pugs and Bulldogs. More extreme conformation has been found to be associated with increased risk of BOAS and other brachycephalic disease in these breeds, such as ocular, neurological, and dental disease. Less is known about how BOAS and other brachycephalic conformation-related disease affects other breeds such as the Boston Terrier.

Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision's (VMMC) strategy for HIV prevention in Sub-Saharan Africa, prevalence, risks, costs, benefits and best practice: A scoping review study protocol of progress and unfolding insights.

Campaigns to scale up Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) for the prevention of HIV transmission has been going on for years in selected Southern African countries, following recommendations from the World Health Organisations. Despite significant strides made in the initiative and its proven benefits, controversies surrounding the strategy have never ceased, and its future remains uncertain especially as some countries near their initial targets. Over the years, as the campaigns unfolded, a lot of insights have been generated in favour of continuing the VMMC campaigns, although some insights portray the impression that the strategy is not worthy of the risks and effort required, or that enough has been done, as the targets have now been achieved.

The carnivorous plant harnesses active particle dynamics to prey on microfauna.

Carnivory in plants is an unusual trait that has arisen multiple times, independently, throughout evolutionary history. Plants in the genus are carnivorous and feed on microorganisms that live in soil using modified subterranean leaf structures (rhizophylls). A surprisingly broad array of microfauna has been observed in the plants' digestive chambers, including ciliates, amoebae, and soil mites.

Trojan horse peptide conjugates remodel the activity spectrum of clinical antibiotics.

Infections caused by gram-negative pathogens continue to be a major risk to human health because of the innate antibiotic resistance endowed by their unique cell membrane architecture. Nature has developed an elegant solution to target gram-negative strains, namely by conjugating toxic antibiotic warheads to a suitable carrier to facilitate the active import of the drug to a specific target organism. Microcin C7 (McC) is a Trojan horse peptide-conjugated antibiotic that specifically targets enterobacteria by exploiting active import through oligopeptide transport systems.

Memory control deficits in the sleep-deprived human brain.

Sleep disturbances are associated with intrusive memories, but the neurocognitive mechanisms underpinning this relationship are poorly understood. Here, we show that sleep deprivation disrupts prefrontal inhibition of memory retrieval, and that the overnight restoration of this inhibitory mechanism is associated with time spent in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. The functional impairments arising from sleep deprivation are linked to a behavioral deficit in the ability to downregulate unwanted memories, and coincide with a deterioration of deliberate patterns of self-generated thought.

Reconciling heterogeneous dengue virus infection risk estimates from different study designs.

Uncovering rates at which susceptible individuals become infected with a pathogen, i.e., the force of infection (FOI), is essential for assessing transmission risk and reconstructing distribution of immunity in a population.

Evaluation of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on hospital admission related to common infections: Risk prediction models to tackle antimicrobial resistance in primary care.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a multifaceted global challenge, partly driven by inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on treatment of common infections, develop risk prediction models and examine the effects of antibiotics on infection-related hospital admissions.

Methods: With the approval of NHS England, we accessed electronic health records from The Phoenix Partnership (TPP) through OpenSAFELY platform.

HIV prevention and missed opportunities among people with recently acquired HIV infection: Α protocol for a systematic review.

Background: Individuals who have recently acquired HIV represent a unique population because the time frame since HIV acquisition is relatively short and identification of missed HIV prevention opportunities is, therefore, closer to real time and less subject to recall bias. Identifying prevention measures used and missed opportunities for using them, can help stop further HIV transmission.

Objectives: This systematic review aims to synthesise current global evidence on uptake of HIV prevention methods among people with recently acquired HIV from 2007, the year that the concept of ART as a prevention method was first introduced.

Loss of Mfn1 but not Mfn2 enhances adipogenesis.

Objective: A biallelic missense mutation in mitofusin 2 (MFN2) causes multiple symmetric lipomatosis and partial lipodystrophy, implicating disruption of mitochondrial fusion or interaction with other organelles in adipocyte differentiation, growth and/or survival. In this study, we aimed to document the impact of loss of mitofusin 1 (Mfn1) or 2 (Mfn2) on adipogenesis in cultured cells.

Methods: We characterised adipocyte differentiation of wildtype (WT), Mfn1-/- and Mfn2-/- mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and 3T3-L1 preadipocytes in which Mfn1 or 2 levels were reduced using siRNA.

A scaleable inducible knockout system for studying essential gene function in the malaria parasite.

The malaria parasite needs nearly half of its genes to propagate normally within red blood cells. Inducible ways to interfere with gene expression like the DiCre-lox system are necessary to study the function of these essential genes. However, existing DiCre-lox strategies are not well-suited to be deployed at scale to study several genes simultaneously.