Κυριακή 7 Μαρτίου 2021

Enhanced removal of arsenic from water by using sub-10 nm hydrated zirconium oxides confined inside gel-type anion exchanger

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Publication date: 15 July 2021

Source: Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 414

Author(s): Zhuoyao Fang, Ziniu Deng, Airong Liu, Xiaolin Zhang, Lu Lv, Bingcai Pan

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Induction of apoptosis in Trypanosoma brucei following endocytosis of ultra-small noble metal nanoclusters

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Publication date: June 2021

Source: Nano Today, Volume 38

Author(s): Xinyi Wang, Di Zhang, Ning Jiang, Xiaofeng Wang, Naiwen Zhang, Kai Zhang, Xiaoyu Sang, Ying Feng, Ran Chen, Na Yang, Qijun Chen

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[Series] Revisiting maternal and child undernutrition in low-income and middle-income countries: variable progress towards an unfinished agenda

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13 years after the first Lancet Series on maternal and child undernutrition, we reviewed the progress achieved on the basis of global estimates and new analyses of 50 low-income and middle-income countries with national surveys from around 2000 and 2015. The prevalence of childhood stunting has fallen, and linear growth faltering in early life has become less pronounced over time, markedly in middle-income countries but less so in low-income countries. Stunting and wasting remain public health problems in low-income countries, where 4·7% of children are simultaneously affected by both, a condition associated with a 4·8-times increase in mortality.
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[Series] Mobilising evidence, data, and resources to achieve global maternal and child undernutrition targets and the Sustainable Development Goals: an agenda for action

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As the world counts down to the 2025 World Health Assembly nutrition targets and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, millions of women, children, and adolescents worldwide remain undernourished (underweight, stunted, and deficient in micronutrients), despite evidence on effective interventions and increasing political commitment to, and financial investment in, nutrition. The COVID-19 pandemic has crippled health systems, exacerbated household food insecurity, and reversed economic growth, which together could set back improvements in undernutrition across low-income and middle-income countries.
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Postnatal Major Depressive Disorder

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Abstract

Background

Perinatal mental health has pervasive impacts on the wellbeing of both the mother and child, affecting quality of life, bonding and attachment and cognitive development.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to (i) quantify the costs to government healthcare funders, private health insurers and individuals through out-of-pocket fees, of women with postnatal major depressive disorder (MDD); and (ii) identify any socioeconomic inequalities in health service use and costs amongst these women.

Methods

A whole-of-population linked administrative dataset containing the clinical records and health service use for all births in the state of Queensland, Australia between 01 July 2012 and 30 June 2015 was used (n = 189,081). Postnatal MDD was classified according to ICD-10 code, with women hospitalised for MDD in the 12 months after birth classified as having 'postnatal MDD' (n = 728). Health service use and costs from birth to 12 months post-birth were included. Total costs included cost to government funders and private health insurers and out-of-pocket fees. Total costs and costs to different funders were compared for women with postnatal MDD and for women without an inpatient event for postnatal MDD, with unadjusted means presented. A generalised linear model was used to compare the difference in total costs, adjusting for key confounders. Costs to different funders and number of different services accessed were then c ompared for women with postnatal MDD by socioeconomic status, with unadjusted means presented.

Results

The total costs from birth to 12 months post-birth were 636% higher for women with postnatal MDD than women without an inpatient event for postnatal MDD, after accounting for differences in private hospital use, mode of birth, clinical characteristics and socioeconomic status. Amongst women with postnatal MDD, the cost of all services accessed was higher for women of highest socioeconomic status than for women of lowest socioeconomic status (A$15,787.66 vs A$11,916.94). The cost of services for women of highest socioeconomic status was higher for private health insurers (A$8941.25 vs A$2555.26), but lower for public hospital funders (A$2423.39 vs A$6582.09) relative to women of lowest socioeconomic status. Outside of public hospitals, costs to government funders was higher for women of highest socioeconomic status (A$2766.80 vs A$1952.00). Women of highest socioeconomic status accessed more inpatient (8.2 vs 3.1) and specialist services (13.4 vs 5.5) and a high er proportion had access to psychiatric specialist care (39.7% vs 13.6%) and antidepressants (97.6% vs 93.8%).

Conclusion

MDD is costly to all funders of healthcare. Amongst women with MDD, there are large differences in the types of services accessed and costs to different funders based on socioeconomic status. There may be significant financial and structural barriers preventing equal access to care for women with postnatal MDD.

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Do Probiotics During In-Hospital Antibiotic Treatment Prevent Colonization of Gut Microbiota With Multi-Drug-Resistant Bacteria? A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial Comparing Saccharomyces to a Mixture of Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Saccharomyces

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Objective: Most infections with Enterobacteriaceae producing AmpC β-lactamase (AmpC)-, extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-, and carbapenemase-producing bacteria, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus as well as naturally resistant non-fermenting bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, are related to a prior colonization of the gut microbiota. The objective of this study was to determine whether treatment with probiotics during an antibiotic treatment could prevent the colonization of the gut microbiota with multi-drug resistant bacteria.

Method: In total, 120 patients treated for 10 days with amoxicillin-clavulanate antibiotics were included in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded trial, comparing the effects of a 30 days treatment with placebo Saccharomyces boulardii CNCM I-745® and a probiotic mixture containing Saccharomyces boulardii, Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM, Lactobacillus paracasei Lpc-37, Bifidobacterium lactis Bl-04, and Bifidobacterium lactis Bi-07 (Bactiol duo®). Study treatment was initiated within 48 h of the antibiotic being initiated. Most of the patients included were elderly with a mean age of 78 years old with multiple comorbidities. Stools were collected at the time of inclusion in the trial, at the end of the antibiotic treatment, and the end of the study treatment. These were cultured on selective antibiotic media.

Results: Treatment with the probiotic mixture led to a significant decline in colonization with Pseudomonas after antibi otic treatment from 25 to 8.3% (p = 0.041). Colonization with AmpC-producing enterobacteria was transiently increased after the antibiotic treatment (p = 0.027) and declined after the probiotic intervention (p= 0.041). No significant changes were observed in the placebo and Saccharomyces groups. Up to 2 years after the trial, no infection with ESBL-producing bacteria was observed in the probiotic mixture group.

Conclusion: The association of Saccharomyces boulardii with specific strains of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium influences antibiotic treatment by counteracting the colonization of the colon microbiota with antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

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Prevalence and Factors Associated With Body Pain

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Background: Pain management has become a critical problem worldwide with the aging population. More than half of older people have experienced pain with different severity. The aim of this research is to identify the characteristics of older people with body pain and the associations between pain and characteristics of demographic, health status, and health services use amongst Chinese seniors.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was based on the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), using follow-up survey data in 2015. The national survey comprised 20,284 women and men aged 45 years or older who completed questionnaires. Data of older people who were asked whether they had troubles with body pain were extracted and analyzed. Multiple logistic regression modeling was used to determine the important indicators (demographic, health status, and health services use) amongst Chinese elderly with pain.

Results: Analyses revealed that 32.5% (n = 9,586) of Chinese people aged over 60 reported having body pain. Pain is positively associated with female gender (OR = 2.08, 95% CI 1.80–2.39, p < 0.001), living in non-urban areas (OR = 1.49, 95% CI 1.25–1.77, p < 0.001), having physical disabilities (OR = 1.45, 95% CI 1.15–1.82, p = 0.002), diagnosed with stomach diseases (OR = 1.40, 95% CI 1.20–1.64, p < 0.001), diagnosed with arthritis (OR = 1.91, 95% CI 1.66–2.20, p < 0.001), self-rating with poor health status (OR = 7.03, 95% CI 5.63–8.78, p < 0.001), self-purchased over-the-counter western medications (OR = 1.50, 95% CI 1.30–1.73, p < 0.001) and self-purchased Chinese herbal medicine (OR = 1.52, 95% CI 1.24–1.85, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Body pain is common amongst the Chinese elderly. This research highlights the need for further nationwide studies exclusively focusing on people with pain including the elder population, and provides evidence-based insights for healthcare providers and policy-makers, to improve the quality of pain management. Future research should also pay attention to the importance of health literacy for health outcomes with regard to pain management.

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Systematic Review of Potential Occupational Respiratory Hazards Exposure Among Sewage Workers

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Background: Sewage workers have a higher risk of exposure to various potential occupational respiratory hazards found in sewage plants. Although previous studies discuss occupational respiratory hazard concentration impacting sewage workers' respiratory health, the results are scarce and mixed. Hence, there is a need to identify the potential respiratory hazards in sewage plants so as to clarify the short- and long-term respiratory health effects. Therefore, this systematic review (SR) aims to critically rev iew previous studies investigating potential respiratory hazards found at sewage plants and their effects on sewage workers' respiratory health.

Methods: An SR was conducted using PubMed, EBSCO Medline, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar on peer-reviewed studies published between January 1994 and October 2020 evaluating the impact of potential exposure to respiratory hazards and its effects on respiratory health among sewage workers. "Sewage treatment plant," "respiratory hazards," and "respiratory health effects" were the three main search terms chosen in this SR. The inclusion criteria were (1) studies on potential occupational respiratory hazard exposure among sewage workers, (2) manuscripts written in English, and (3) studies published in the peer-reviewed literature. The human observational studies' quality was assessed using the Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool.

Results: We identified 5,660 articles through an ini tial database search. Only 26 items met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review; 15 human observational studies and 11 environmental assessment studies were conducted in the sewage industries. Most of the human observational studies were rated as moderate quality, two studies were rated as weak quality, and one study with strong quality was identified. Hydrogen sulfide, bioaerosols, particulate matter 2.5 (PM 2.5), and volatile organic compounds (VOC) were found to be potential respiratory hazards. Most of the risks contributed to adverse outcomes on the sewage workers' respiratory health with some inconsistent findings on the relationship between respiratory hazard exposure and respiratory health effects.

Conclusion: Our review finds that, although this area is of great importance, quality studies are still lacking. There is a need for additional studies to clarify the effects of respiratory hazard exposure on sewage workers and respiratory health, especially PM 2.5 and VOC.

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Preoperative tracheotomy as reflection of tumor size impacting oncologic outcomes of patients with advanced stage glottic carcinoma

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Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2021 Mar 6. doi: 10.1007/s00405-021-06721-9. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of preoperative tracheotomy on oncologic outcomes of advanced stage glottic carcinoma patients, and to explore the potential reason.

METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 413 consecutive advanced stage glottic carcinoma patients from January 2005 to December 2010. The correlation of preoperative tracheotomy and potential impacting factor of tumor size involving tumor diameter and tumor area with overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) was fully assessed.

RESULTS: Our cohort consisted of 302 (73.1%) patients with T3 and 111 (26.9%) patients with T4, and 98 (23.7%) patients received preoperative tracheotomy. The OS and DFS rates of patients receiving preoperative tracheotomy were worse than those without (5-year OS: 49.3% versus 69.8%; 5-year DFS: 45. 3% versus 61.0%). The mean tumor diameter and tumor area of patients with preoperative tracheotomy were greater than those without (3.3 cm versus 2.4 cm, 8.9 cm2 versus 4.7 cm2). The optimal cutoff values of tumor diameter and tumor area for tracheotomy were 2.85 cm and 6.64 cm2. Tumor diameter and tumor area were correlated with tracheotomy intervention. Furthermore, when considering the potential effect of tumor area in multivariate model, we found that it was a significant factor in survival outcomes but variable of preoperative tracheotomy was not.

CONCLUSION: This study indicates that tumor size is correlated with preoperative tracheotomy, and tracheotomy intervention may be reflection from effect of great tumor size that is a true adverse factor influencing oncologic outcomes of advanced stage glottic carcinoma patients.

PMID:33675419 | DOI:10.1007/s00405-021-06721-9

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The aspartate aminotransaminase/alanine aminotransaminase (De Ritis) ratio predicts sensitivity to radiotherapy in head and neck carcinoma patients

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Abstract

Background

The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between the aspartate aminotransaminase (AST) and alanine aminotransaminase (ALT) ratio and local disease control in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) treated with radiotherapy/chemoradiotherapy.

Methods

We calculated the pre‐treatment AST/ALT ratio in 670 patients with HNSCC treated with radiotherapy (n = 309, 46.1%) or chemoradiotherapy (n = 361, 53.9%).

Results

Five‐year local recurrence‐free survival for patients with a low AST/ALT ratio value (n = 529, 79.0%) was 75.0% (95% CI: 71.1–78.9), and for patients with a high value (n = 141, 21.0%) it was 53.4% (CI 95: 44.4–62.4) (p = 0.0001). In a multivariable analysis, patients with a high ratio had nearly twice the risk of having a local tumor recurrence (HR 1.97, 95% CI 1.42–2.75, p = 0.0001).

Conclusion

The AST/ALT ratio was independently associated with the risk of local recurrence in patients with HNSCC treated with radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy.

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Non-negative matrix factorization-based time-frequency feature extraction of voice signal for Parkinson's disease prediction

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Publication date: Available online 6 March 2021

Source: Computer Speech & Language

Author(s): Biswajit Karan, Sitanshu Sekhar Sahu, Juan Rafael Orozco-Arroyave, Kartik Mahto

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