Objective: To investigate the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of Solanum procumbens on complete Freund's adjuvant-induced arthritis rat models. Methods: We isolated and identified five ...compounds in the ethanol-soluble Solanum procumbens extract (SP) with anti-inflammatory effects, including ursolic acid, β-sitosterol, hexadecanoic acid, cis-vaccenic acid, and vanillic acid. Additionally, we investigated the anti-inflammatory effects of SP on rheumatoid arthritis symptoms, including paw volumes, local temperatures, withdrawal latency, and mechanical withdrawal threshold at the hind paw and white blood cell (WBC) number from complete Freund's adjuvant-induced arthritis rat models. Results: We have successfully established a complete Freund's adjuvant-induced arthritis rat model at a low dose (1 mg/mL). SP extract significantly reduced paw volumes (P<0.05), prolonged withdrawal latencies (P<0.05), decreased local temperature, and increased the mechanical withdrawal threshold (P<0.05), but only SP extract at the dose of 300 mg/kg significantly decreased WBC numbers. Conclusions: SP extract could be a potential medication candidate with anti-inflammatory effects for arthritis, but it requires further investigation into the mechanism of the SP and its effectiveness on other models as well as clinical trials.
This paper presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of 26 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 1721 patients to assess the effects of hydrolyzed collagen (HC) supplementation on skin ...hydration and elasticity. The results showed that HC supplementation significantly improved skin hydration (test for overall effect: Z = 4.94,
< 0.00001) and elasticity (test for overall effect: Z = 4.49,
< 0.00001) compared to the placebo group. Subgroup analyses demonstrated that the effects of HC supplementation on skin hydration varied based on the source of collagen and the duration of supplementation. However, there were no significant differences in the effects of different sources (
= 0.21) of collagen or corresponding measurements (
= 0.06) on skin elasticity. The study also identified several biases in the included RCTs. Overall, the findings suggest that HC supplementation can have positive effects on skin health, but further large-scale randomized control trials are necessary to confirm these findings.
In a United Nations (UN) staff member headquarters in South Sudan, we present a rare typhoid fever complicated by syncope due to relative bradycardia. A 25-year-old male presented to our hospital ...with a high fever, diarrhea, and no vomiting. He had no substantial medical background. He was diagnosed with an unspecified digestive disorder and received initial treatment. Two syncope episodes were recorded in the Level 1 hospital. He was referred to our hospital at the 30th hour and the third fainting occurred. Electrocardiogram showed bradycardia with a heart rate of 40 beats/min. The atropine test was negative; the initial diagnosis was sinus sickness syndrome. Microbiology tests later suggested typhoid infection. Then, the diagnosis changed to relative bradycardia caused by Salmonella typhi; and he was orally treated with the third-generation Quinolone antibiotic. He significantly improved and got discharged on the seventh day. In conclusion, typhoid remains a real and present threat to UN staff and civilians in South Sudan.
In multi-criteria decision making, attribute reduction has attracted the attention of researchers for more than two decades. So far, numerous scientists have proposed algorithms to construct reducts ...in decision tables. However, most of the suggested algorithms are heuristic which discovers a reduction based on criteria of the attribute set. In fact, studying the properties of reducts to build efficient attribute reduction models is an urgent problem. In this research, we present some properties of reducts in incomplete decision tables by the relational database theory approach. It was found that the properties of reducts in incomplete decision tables are equivalent to properties of the Sperner-systems in the theory of relational database. By studying the properties of the Sperner-systems, the efficient attribute reduction models can be built to improve the efficiency of multi-criteria decision making systems.
Aims:
Clinical decision making is challenging in men with metastatic prostate cancer (mPC), as heterogeneity in treatment options and patient characteristics have resulted in multiple scenarios with ...little or no evidence. The South East Asia Expert Panel 2019 addressed some of these challenges.
Methods:
Based on evidence in the literature and expert interviews, 19 statements were formulated for key challenges in the treatment of men with castration-sensitive and -resistant prostate cancer in clinical practice. A modified Delphi process was used to reach consensus among experts in the panel and develop clinical practice recommendations.
Results:
The majority of the panel preferred a risk-based stratification and recommended abiraterone or enzalutamide as first-line therapy for symptomatic chemotherapy naïve patients. Abiraterone is preferred over enzalutamide as a first-line treatment in these patients. However, the panel did not support the use of abiraterone in high risk lymph-node positive only (N+M0) or in non-metastatic (N0M0) patients. In select patients, low dose abiraterone with food may be used to optimize clinical outcomes. Androgen receptor gene splice variant status may be a useful guide to therapy. In addition, generic versions of approved therapies may improve access to treatment to a broader patient population. The choice of treatment, as well as sequencing are guided by both patient and disease characteristics, preferences, drug access, cost, and compliance.
Conclusion:
Expert recommendations are key to guidance for the optimal management of mPC. Appropriate choice, timing, and sequence of treatment options can help to tailor therapy to maximize outcomes in men with mPC.
Over the years, scientists have discovered bioactive chemicals in many of the plants that have been traditionally utilized as medicinal medicines. However, identifying plant species based on their ...physical characteristics can be difficult, and misidentification can have severe consequences, such as the use of the incorrect plant as a medicine. With the advent of machine learning techniques such as deep learning and federated learning, it is now possible to develop automated systems for the precise image-based classification of medicinal plants. Nevertheless, medicinal plant classification using deep learning techniques typically requires a large amount of data, which can be challenging to acquire and manage due to privacy concerns, data ownership, and geographic reasons. Federated learning provides a solution to this issue by enabling the training of a shared model on multiple devices without requiring centralized data storage. In this work, we assess and optimize the federared learning framework using two federated learning approaches, FedAvg and FedProx, and four state-of-the-art deep learning networks for the job of categorizing medicinal plants by distributing the original training set into two forms, IID and Non-IID. Ultimately, the accuracy of the optimal federated learning system is improved by 5.65% and 14.84% over the baseline on IID data and Non-IID data, respectively. Furthermore, the study brings up a new difficult arena for the task of classifying medicinal plants using Non-IID training data.
Purpose
– This paper aims to facilitate the joint assessment of issues related to the agricultural systems, i.e. agriculture, aquaculture and climate change (CC) response strategies, in the coastal ...districts with a panel of stakeholders; and to evaluate the level of agreement on the topics under consideration and potentially identify the most promising approaches to assessing CC affecting agricultural systems in the area and identify relevant and adequate response strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
– Stakeholder Delphi technique – its assessment is an interactive method of qualitative research used to facilitate the interactive participation of varied and conceivably hierarchical and antagonistic stakeholder groups.
Findings
– The most important result for the province is that the impact of climate change on agro-ecological landscapes (poverty and near river areas) is the duration of cold weather, more frequent and extreme. Moreover, Kendall’s W test gave a score of 0.547, which indicates a “strong” stakeholder agreement and the “confidence in ranks” being “high” in Thai Binh (Vietnam).
Originality/value
– The scientific results in this study are intended to serve as relevant knowledge-inputs and direct contributions to capacity-building for the local partners (stakeholders and local authorities). These local partners are engaged in policy-making and effective planning and implementation of climate response measures in the districts in the province of Thai Binh.
Colorectal adenomas have the potential of malignant transformation if left untreated. Multiple randomized controlled trials have been performed to evaluate the efficacy of aspirin in preventing ...colorectal adenoma recurrence in a population with a history of colorectal adenoma but not colorectal cancer, however, the relationship between aspirin dose and colorectal adenoma recurrence remains unclear. We conducted pairwise meta-analysis, meta-regression, trial sequential analysis, and network meta-analysis of all eligible studies. The ROB 2.0 tool was used to assess the risk of bias in the studies. The confidence in network meta-analysis (CINeMA) approach was used to evaluate the confidence of the network meta-analysis results. The network meta-analysis included eight RCTs (nine reports), comprising four on aspirin (low or high dose) alone and four on aspirin combined with another medication, all compared with placebo. In the network meta-analysis, low-dose aspirin (LDA <300 mg per day) was more effective than high-dose aspirin (HDA ≥300 mg per day) and placebo, with risk ratios of 0.76 (95% CI: 0.58 to 0.99) and 0.7 (95% CI: 0.54 to 0.91), respectively. LDA was the optimal treatment relative to HDA and placebo (P-score = 0.99). In the trial sequential analysis, LDA was only more effective than placebo when the number of included participants exceeded the optimal information size; this was not the case for HDA. LDA has statistically significant efficacy for colorectal adenoma prevention, but compared with HDA, its efficacy remains uncertain. Further trials are therefore required.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Foodborne zoonotic trematode (FZT) infections are common neglected tropical diseases in Southeast Asia. Their complicated life cycles involve freshwater snails as intermediate hosts. A ...cross-sectional study was conducted in Yen Bai and Thanh Hoa provinces in North and Central Vietnam, to investigate the diversity of cercariae of potential FZT and to construct the phylogenetic relationship of trematode cercariae based on the Internal Transcribed Spacer 2 (ITS2) region. Among 17 snail species collected from various habitats, 13 were infected by 10 cercarial groups among which parapleurolophocercous, pleurolophocercous, and echinostome cercariae were of zoonotic importance. The monophyletic tree separated cercarial sequences into different groups following the description of the cercariae families in which Haplorchidae, Opisthorchiidae, Echinochasmidae, and Echinostomatidae are important families of FZT. The overall prevalence was different among snail species and habitats and showed a seasonal trend. Parapleurolophocercous and echinostome cercariae emerged as the most common cercariae in snails in Yen Bai, while monostome, echinostome, and megalura cercariae were most common in Thanh Hoa. Using a molecular approach, we identified
Parafossarulus striatulus
as the first intermediate snail host of
Clonorchis sinensis
in Thac Ba Lake.
Melanoides tuberculata
and
Bithynia fuchsiana
were we identified preferred intermediate snail hosts of a diverse range of trematode species including intestinal flukes (i.e.,
Haplorchis pumilio
and
Echinochasmus japonicus
) in Yen Bai and Thanh Hoa, respectively.
Patients often experience pain and psychological distress when undergoing elective surgeries. Mindfulness-based interventions have been proposed as potential strategies to address these challenges. ...This meta-analysis aims to evaluate the efficacy of preoperative mindfulness-based interventions on several outcomes for patients undergoing elective surgery, including preoperative anxiety/depression, postoperative anxiety/depression, postoperative pain, and quality of life (QOL).
This meta-analysis encompassed randomized controlled trials published in the database PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase to August 2023. Mindfulness-based interventions were compared to control groups, who received treatment as usual (TAU). The RevMan software was employed to assess each outcome by using standardized mean difference based on patient-reported data. Subgroup analyses were further performed according to different categories of surgical types.
Eight RCTs with a total of 685 patients were identified. This meta-analysis demonstrated significant difference in preoperative anxiety (SMD:−0.36, 95% CI: −0.62 to −0.11, p = .006) and postoperative pain immediately (SMD:−0.65,95% CI: −1.09 to −0.20, p = .004), 2–3 days (SMD:-0.40, 95% CI:-0.78 to −0.02, p = .04),at 14 days (SMD:−0.48,95% CI: −0.85 to −0.12, p = .009) and 28 days (SMD:−0.89,95% CI: −1.55 to −0.23, p = .008) postoperatively. However, there were no differences between postoperative anxiety, preoperative/postoperative depression, and QOL.
Our findings suggest preoperative mindfulness-based interventions can effectively manage preoperative anxiety and postoperative pain in patients scheduled for elective surgery. Further research is warranted to explore the different timing and types of mindfulness-based intervention.
•Patients often face psychological distress or pain when undergoing surgery.•Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) show promising benefits.•Eight randomized controlled trials with a total of 685 patients were meta-analyzed.•Improvements were seen in preoperative anxiety and postoperative pain.•Further research should investigate the timing and types of preoperative MBIs.
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