Values and preferences for hepatitis C self-testing among the general population and healthcare workers in Rwanda.

Background: In 2018, Rwanda launched a 5-year hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination plan as per the World Health Organization global targets to eliminate HCV by 2030. To improve awareness of HCV status, strategies are needed to ensure easy access to HCV testing by as-yet unreached populations. HCV-self-testing, an innovative strategy, could further increase HCV testing uptake.

'Birds of the same feathers fly together': midwives' experiences with pregnant women and FGM/C complications - a grounded theory study in Liberia.

Background: In Liberia, approximately 70% of the women of the North-Central and North-Western regions could have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in their childhood during a traditional ceremony marking their entrance into Sande, a secret female society. Little is known about FGM/C from Liberian women's perspective. This study aimed to understand the health implications of FGM/C as perceived by qualified female midwives.

The impact of a continuing training program on the perceived improvement in quality of health care delivered by health care professionals.

There is abundant scientific literature concerning factors that affect patients' perceptions of the quality of health care. However, there are few published works that consider the opinions of health care professionals. This article aims to conjointly analyse two organisational strategies that determine professional health care practice: continuous training and quality of care.

A biomechanical analysis on the impact of episiotomy during childbirth.

Episiotomy is still a controversy issue among physicians, despite the enormous growth of clinical research. Therefore, the potential of numerical modeling of anatomical structures to simulate biomechanical processes was exploited to realize quantitatively the real effects of the episiotomy and its consequences on the pelvic floor muscle. As such, a numerical model was used composed of pelvic floor muscles, a surface delimiting the anterior region, and a fetus body.

A Diagnostic Calculator for Detecting Glaucoma on the Basis of Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer, Optic Disc, and Retinal Ganglion Cell Analysis by Optical Coherence Tomography.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a multivariate predictive model to detect glaucoma by using a combination of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), retinal ganglion cell-inner plexiform (GCIPL), and optic disc parameters measured using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Methods: Five hundred eyes from 500 participants and 187 eyes of another 187 participants were included in the study and validation groups, respectively. Patients with glaucoma were classified in five groups based on visual field damage.

UPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS(E) and GC-MS identification and quantification of non-intentionally added substances coming from biodegradable food packaging.

Biodegradable packagings are made by combination of several materials creating a multilayer with the properties needed. Each material, including the adhesive, could contain substances that could migrate to the food. In this work, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry and ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry were used to identify the biodegradable adhesive compounds.

Some pitfalls in PAGE-LA-ICP-MS for quantitative elemental speciation of dissolved organic matter and metalomics.

An experimental approach to evaluate the capabilities and limitations of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) for quantitative elemental speciation is presented. Two metalloproteins (superoxide dismutase, containing Cu and Zn, and thyroglobulin, containing I) with high binding affinity for metals, and metal-dissolved organic matter (DOM) complexes (from a compost leachate sample) which show different types of metal binding are studied. Iodine can be quantitatively detected in thyroglobulin after PAGE-LA-ICP-MS using either sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) PAGE or native PAGE.

Alcoholic beverage preference and dietary pattern in Spanish university graduates: the SUN cohort study.

Objective: To describe the association between alcohol beverage preference and dietary habits comparing wine drinkers with other alcoholic beverage drinkers and with nondrinkers in Spanish university graduates.

Subjects: A total of 10 526 men and women, who were recruited using mailed questionnaires, participated in this study.

Methods: A semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire previously validated in Spain was used together with other questionnaires designed to collect lifestyle characteristics.

The changes in running performance and maximal oxygen uptake after long-term training in elite athletes.

Aim: The relationship between VO2max (mL x kg(-1) x min(-1)) and running performance has been assessed in cross-sectional studies. Follow-up studies of the long-term effects of running training on the changes in performance and VO2max have not been undertaken.

Methods: Twenty-five male endurance-trained (MET) and 8 female endurance-trained (FET) athletes were tracked over 4 years.

Diagnostic survey of viral haemorrhagic disease in wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in four regions of Spain.

Samples of organs and serum were obtained from wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) found dead in the field, shot or captured by hunters, or introduced for repopulation in various provinces of Spain over a two-year period, for the purposes of an epidemiological study of viral haemorrhagic disease (VHD) of rabbits. The efficacy of the haemagglutination test and the direct immunofluorescence test for the diagnosis of VHD was also examined.