Articles

MusicCohort: Pilot feasibility of a protocol to assess students’ physical and mental health in a Canadian post-secondary school of music

Music-related physical and mental health conditions are common among post-secondary music students, with many studies reporting a prevalence greater than 70%. However, there is currently no consensus on approp...

Authors: Julius Bruder, Nikolaus Ballenberger, Bethany Villas, Charlotte Haugan, Kimiko McKenzie, Zalak Patel, Christoff Zalpour, Amynah Mevawala, Melisa Handl and Christine Guptill

Convalescence plasma treatment of COVID-19: results from a prematurely terminated randomized controlled open-label study in Southern Sweden

Convalescent plasma has been tried as therapy for various viral infections. Early observational studies of convalescent plasma treatment for hospitalized COVID-19 patients were promising, but randomized contro...

Authors: Karin Holm, Maria N. Lundgren, Jens Kjeldsen-Kragh, Oskar Ljungquist, Blenda Böttiger, Christian Wikén, Jonas Öberg, Nils Fernström, Ebba Rosendal, Anna K. Överby, Julia Wigren Byström, Mattias Forsell, Mona Landin-Olsson and Magnus Rasmussen

Validation of a method of broth microdilution for the determination of antibacterial activity of essential oils

The aim of the present study was to adapt and optimize a broth microdilution method and compare it to the agar dilution method for the evaluation of activity of essential oils from medicinal plants against Gra...

Authors: Vanegas David, Abril-Novillo Andrea, Khachatryan Aleksandr, Jerves-Andrade Lourdes, Peñaherrera Eugenia, Cuzco Nancy, Wilches Isabel, Calle Jessica and Fabián León-Tamariz

Npr2 mutant mice show vasodilation and undeveloped adipocytes in mesentery

The biological importance for the signaling of C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) and natriuretic peptide receptor B (NPR-B) has been recognized. However, the details remain unclear and are debatable. The Npr2 is a...

Authors: Chizuru Sogawa-Fujiwara, Yasuhiro Fujiwara, Atsuki Hanagata, Qunhui Yang, Taiki Mihara, Noriyuki Kaji, Tetsuo Kunieda and Masatoshi Hori

Correlation of serum electrolytes with serial miRNA in advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Indonesia

This study aims to evaluate the correlation between electrolytes and serial miRNAs from our previous study. We want to prove that there is the molecular basis that underlying electrolytes disturbances as the p...

Authors: Arif Riswahyudi Hanafi, Achmad Mulawarman Jayusman, Priscillia Imelda, Serafim Alfasunu, Ahmad Hamim Sadewa, Dibyo Pramono, Didik Setyo Heriyanto, Sofia Mubarika Haryana and Siti Boedina Kresno

Power calculator for detecting allelic imbalance using hierarchical Bayesian model

Allelic imbalance (AI) is the differential expression of the two alleles in a diploid. AI can vary between tissues, treatments, and environments. Methods for testing AI exist, but methods are needed to estimat...

Authors: Katrina Sherbina, Luis G. León-Novelo, Sergey V. Nuzhdin, Lauren M. McIntyre and Fabio Marroni

Database on the coverage of the “Bolsa-Família” conditioning cash-transfer program: Brazil, 2005 to 2021

The “Bolsa-Família” Program (PBF) is a Brazilian conditional cash-transfer program in which families should comply with health, education, and social assistance conditionalities. The program aims to fight pove...

Authors: Lais Baroni, Ronaldo Fernandes Santos Alves, Cristiano Siqueira Boccolini, Rebecca Salles, Raquel Gritz, Balthazar Paixão and Patricia de Moraes Mello Boccolini

Comparison of hydroxyethylstarch (HES 130/0.4) and 5% human albumin for volume substitution in pediatric neurosurgery: A retrospective, single center study

Colloid solutions are commonly used to maintain perioperative fluid homeostasis. In regard to perioperative infant-centered care, data about the impact of colloids are rare. New data suggest a possible positiv...

Authors: Martin A. Schick, Jonas Pippir, Manuel F. Struck, Jürgen Brugger, Winfried Neuhaus and Christian Wunder

The Aliment to Bodily Condition knowledgebase (ABCkb): a database connecting plants and human health

Overconsumption of processed foods has led to an increase in chronic diet-related diseases such obesity and type 2 diabetes. Although diets high in fresh fruits and vegetables are linked with healthier outcome...

Authors: Aaron Trautman, Richard Linchangco, Rachel Walstead, Jeremy J. Jay and Cory Brouwer

Predicted transmembrane proteins with homology to Mef(A) are not responsible for complementing mef(A) deletion in the mef(A)–msr(D) macrolide efflux system in Streptococcus pneumoniae

In streptococci, the type M resistance to macrolides is due to the mef(A)–msr(D) efflux transport system of the ATP-Binding cassette (ABC) superfamily, where it is proposed that mef(A) codes for the transmembrane...

Authors: Valeria Fox, Francesco Santoro, Gianni Pozzi and Francesco Iannelli

Chromium removal from tannery effluents by adsorption process via activated carbon chat stems (Catha edulis) using response surface methodology

In tannery processing, water consumption is high, which generates wastewater as a by-product and numerous pollutants such as chromium heavy metals that make adverse effects of water bodies and the surrounding ...

Authors: Yigezu Mekonnen Bayisa, Tafere Aga Bullo and Desalegn Abdissa Akuma

Affective temperaments of Lebanese patients with schizophrenia: comparison by gender and severity of psychosis

Our aim in this study was to identify affective temperament differences utilizing the TEMPS-A in a large sample size of Lebanese patients with schizophrenia and compare them to healthy controls. Gender differe...

Authors: Joseph E. Dib, Ilige Nehme, Chadia Haddad, Jocelyne Azar, Souheil Hallit and Sahar Obeid

Associations between compliance with covid-19 public health recommendations and perceived contagion in others: a self-report study in Swedish university students

During the COVID pandemic, government authorities worldwide have tried to limit the spread of the virus. Sweden’s distinctive feature was the use of voluntary public health recommendations. Few studies have ev...

Authors: Claes Andersson, Marcus Bendtsen, Olof Molander, Lilian Granlund, Naira Topooco, Karin Engström, Petra Lindfors and Anne H. Berman

Changes in COVID-19 risk perceptions: methods of an internet survey conducted in six countries

This study assessed changes in behaviors/attitudes related to the COVID-19. With the understanding that behaviors and vaccine decision-making could contribute to global spread of infectious diseases, this stud...

Authors: Felicia Zhang, Shu-Fang Shih, Harapan Harapan, Yogambigai Rajamoorthy, Hao-Yuan Chang, Awnish Singh, Yihan Lu and Abram L. Wagner

A new primer pair for barcoding of bees (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) without amplifying the orthologous coxA gene of Wolbachia bacteria

DNA barcoding became an effective method for the identification and monitoring of bees. However, standard primer pairs used for barcoding often result in (co-) amplification of bacterial endosymbionts of the g...

Authors: Christoph Bleidorn and Katharina Henze

Development and validation of an equation to predict the incidence of coronary heart disease in patients with type 2 diabetes in Japan

In the diabetes treatment policy after the Kumamoto Declaration 2013, it is difficult to accurately predict the incidence of complications in patients using the JJ risk engine. This study was conducted to deve...

Authors: Yasunari Yamashita, Gaku Inoue, Yoichi Nozaki, Rina Kitajima, Kiyoshi Matsubara, Takeshi Horii, Junichi Mohri, Koichiro Atsuda and Hajime Matsubara

A phylogeny of the genus Limia (Teleostei: Poeciliidae) suggests a single-lake radiation nested in a Caribbean-wide allopatric speciation scenario

The Caribbean is an important global biodiversity hotspot. Adaptive radiations there lead to many speciation events within a limited period and hence are particularly prominent biodiversity generators. A prime...

Authors: Montrai Spikes, Rodet Rodríguez-Silva, Kerri-Ann Bennett, Stefan Bräger, James Josaphat, Patricia Torres-Pineda, Anja Ernst, Katja Havenstein, Ingo Schlupp and Ralph Tiedemann

Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on primary care utilization: evidence from Sweden using national register data

To analyze changes in primary care utilization as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Swedish national register data from 2019 to 2020 on utilization of services were used to compare overall utilization levels ...

Authors: Björn Ekman, Eva Arvidsson, Hans Thulesius, Jens Wilkens and Olof Cronberg

The impact of nonresponse in different survey stages on the precision of prevalence estimates for multi-stage survey studies

While it is known that nonresponse might produce biased results and impair the precision of results in survey research studies, the pattern of the impact on the precision of estimates due to the nonresponse in...

Authors: Ming Ma, Sophie Rosenberg and Alexander M. Kaizer

Improving methods to measure comparable mortality cause (IMMCMC) gold standard verbal autopsy dataset

Gold standard cause of death data is critically important to improve verbal autopsy (VA) methods in diagnosing cause of death where civil and vital registration systems are inadequate or poor. As part of a thr...

Authors: Riley H. Hazard, Hafizur Rahman Chowdhury, Abraham D. Flaxman, Jonathan C. Joseph, Nurul Alam, Ian Douglas Riley, Peter Kim Streatfield, Hebe Gouda, Seri Maraga, Patricia Rarau, Diozele Sanvictores, Veronica Tallo, Marilla Lucero and Alan D. Lopez

COVID-19 vaccine preferences among university students in Hong Kong: a discrete choice experiment

To promote public health and resume university activities, COVID-19 vaccination has been mandated from an increasing number of universities worldwide. The objective of the study is to understand the factors th...

Authors: Xue Li, Man Yui Chong, Ching Yui Chan, Vindy Wing Sun Chan and Xinning Tong

Maternal and umbilical cord blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes showed moderate oxidative burst at phagocytosis of Gardnerella vaginalis

Pregnant women with bacterial vaginosis due to Gardnerella vaginalis (GV) infection presents with a wide-ranging disease symptomatology. We speculate this may be due to interaction that varies between host immune...

Authors: Anushia Swaminathan, Nor Haslinda Abd Aziz, Najiah Ajlaa Ayub, Kon-Ken Wong and Fook-Choe Cheah

Analysis of reasons for loss to follow up in a prospective study in Chandigarh, India and impact from telecom changes

Mobile phones are used in research studies, to enroll and follow-up participants, collect data, and implement mHealth initiatives. We conducted a longitudinal study in a birth cohort, where infants were requir...

Authors: Joseph L. Mathew, Pooja N. Patel, Abram L. Wagner, Vanita Suri, Bhavneet Bharti, Bradley F. Carlson and Matthew L. Boulton

Immunomagnetic B cell isolation as a tool to study blood cell subsets and enrich B cell transcripts

Transcriptional profiling of immune cells is an indispensable tool in biomedical research; however, heterogenous sample types routinely used in transcriptomic studies may mask important cell type-specific tran...

Authors: Amanda N. Henning, Daniel Green, Ryan Baumann, Patrick Grandinetti, Steven L. Highfill, Huizhi Zhou and Valeria De Giorgi

Investigation of bioluminescence-based assays for determination of kinetic parameters for the bifunctional Neisseria meningitidis serogroup W capsule polymerase

Neisseria meningitidis is a Gram-negative bacterium that causes meningitis. N. meningitidis serogroup W (NmW) capsule polymerase synthesizes capsular polysaccharide of this serogroup. This enzyme could be a tool ...

Authors: Laleh Sheikhi Moghaddam, Ayobami Adegbite and Pumtiwitt C. McCarthy

A geodatabase of blood pressure level and the associated factors including lifestyle, nutritional, air pollution, and urban greenspace

Hypertension is a prevalent chronic disease globally. A multifaceted combination of risk factors is associated with hypertension. Scientific literature has shown the association among individual and environmen...

Authors: Alireza Mohammadi, Elahe Pishgar, Neda Firouraghi, Nasser Bagheri, Ali Shamsoddini, Jaffar Abbas and Behzad Kiani

Documenting elimination of co-circulating COVID-19 clusters using genomics in New South Wales, Australia

To adapt ‘fishplots’ to describe real-time evolution of SARS-CoV-2 genomic clusters.

Authors: Alicia Arnott, Jenny Draper, Rebecca J. Rockett, Connie Lam, Rosemarie Sadsad, Mailie Gall, Elena Martinez, Roy Byun, Jennie Musto, Ben Marais, Sharon C.-A. Chen, Jen Kok, Dominic E. Dwyer and Vitali Sintchenko

Collecting quantitative experimental data from a non-WEIRD population: challenges and practical recommendations from a field experiment in rural Sierra Leone

Standardized pretest–posttest experimental designs with quantitative surveys are frequently applied to evaluate the effectiveness of health programs. However, this method is strongly informed by research on sa...

Authors: Hanna Luetke Lanfer, Doreen Reifegerste and Sorie Ibrahim Kargbo

Fluoroquinolone susceptibility in first-line drug-susceptible M. tuberculosis isolates in Lima, Peru

To determine at two distinct time points the prevalence of resistance to ofloxacin (OFX), the representative class drug of fluoroquinolones (FQs), in M. tuberculosis isolates susceptible to first-line drugs.

Authors: Alvaro Schwalb, Rodrigo Cachay, Ericka Meza, Tatiana Cáceres, Amondrea Blackman, Fernanda Maruri, Timothy R. Sterling and Eduardo Gotuzzo

Community acquired Acinetobacter baumannii in pediatric patients under 1 year old with a clinical diagnosis of whooping cough in Lima, Peru

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of A. baumannii in children aged less than 1 year admitted with a clinical diagnosis of whooping cough.

Authors: Isaac Peña-Tuesta, Cristina del Valle-Vargas, Veronica Petrozzi-Helasvuo, Miguel Angel Aguilar-Luis, Hugo Carrillo-Ng, Wilmer Silva-Caso and Juana del Valle-Mendoza

Association of FTO rs1421085 single nucleotide polymorphism with fat and fatty acid intake in Indonesian adults

Recent studies showed that genetic polymorphisms in the fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) were associated with obesity and dietary intake. In this study of 71 adults in Jakarta, Indonesia, we investigate...

Authors: Athraa Alaulddin Al-Jawadi, Lidwina Priliani, Sukma Oktavianthi, Clarissa A. Febinia, Mulianah Daya, I Made Artika and Safarina G. Malik

Role of FBXW2 in explant cultures of bovine periosteum-derived cells

Bone regeneration is a potential technique for treating osteoporosis. A previous study reported that F-box and WD-40 domain-containing protein 2 (FBXW2) localized with osteocalcin in bovine periosteum after 5 ...

Authors: Mari Akiyama

RE-COVER project: A survey on resilience, mental health, and fear of Covid-19 in four countries

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health of people worldwide. Psychological resilience has been shown to buffer against the threat of the pandemic (i.e., COVID-19 fear) and sustain mental health. T...

Authors: Daichi Sugawara, Yuan Gu, Akihiro Masuyama, Siew Li Ng, Evone Y. M. Phoo, Raja Intan Arifah Binti Raja Reza Shah, Takahiro Kubo, Yuta Chishima and Eugene Y. J. Tee

Designing a conceptual framework for misinformation on social media: a qualitative study on COVID-19

This study was aimed to present a conceptual framework about the misinformation surrounding COVID-19 outbreak in Iran. For this purpose, discourse analysis of two of the most common social virtual networks wer...

Authors: Peivand Bastani, Seyyed Mostafa Hakimzadeh and Mohammad Amin Bahrami

Placental extract suppresses the formation of fibrotic deposits by tumor necrosis factor alpha and transforming growth factor beta-induced epithelial–mesenchymal transition in ARPE-19 cells

Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is involved in the development of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) and subsequent fibrosis. Previously, we demonstrated that placental extract ameliorates fibrosis ...

Authors: Kyoko Igarashi, Koji Sugimoto and Eiichi Hirano

Feasibility of home-based sampling of salivary cortisol and cortisone in healthy adults

Salivary cortisol and cortisone are used as biomarkers of physiological stress. Careful sampling of saliva for profiling of awakening response and the diurnal slope can be challenging in free-living environmen...

Authors: Sarah Overgaard Sørensen, Jesper Pedersen, Martin G. Rasmussen, Peter L. Kristensen and Anders Grøntved

The importance of adherence to international standards for depositing open data in public repositories

There has been an important global interest in Open Science, which include open data and methods, in addition to open access publications. It has been proposed that public availability of raw data increases th...

Authors: Diego A. Forero, Walter H. Curioso and George P. Patrinos

Predictive markers of transmission in areas with different malaria endemicity in north-eastern Tanzania based on seroprevalence of antibodies against Plasmodium falciparum

A community-based cross-sectional study was done to assess Plasmodium falciparum exposure in areas with different malaria endemicity in north-eastern Tanzania using serological markers; PfAMA-1 and PfMSP-1₁₉.

Authors: Robert D. Kaaya, Debora C. Kajeguka, Johnson J. Matowo, Arnold J. Ndaro, Franklin W. Mosha, Jaffu O. Chilongola and Reginald A. Kavishe

Risk factors for development of nephropathy in patients with a diabetic Charcot foot

Charcot foot is a rare complication to neuropathy and can cause severe foot deformities and ulcerations, which often require prolonged antibiotical treatment. The objective of this retrospective study was to i...

Authors: Rasmus Bo Jansen, Per E. Holstein, Bo Jørgensen, Klaus Kirketerp Møller and Ole Lander Svendsen

Gender representation in food and beverage print advertisements found in corner stores around schools in Peru and Guatemala

The objective of this study is to assess gender representation in food and beverage print advertisements.

Authors: Sophia Mus, Lucila Rozas, Joaquin Barnoya and Peter Busse

Dysregulation of RNA interference components in COVID-19 patients

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the novel coronavirus causing severe respiratory illness (COVID-19). This virus was initially identified in Wuhan city, a populated area of the H...

Authors: Seyyed Reza Mousavi, Maryam Sadat Sajjadi, Farinaz Khosravian, Sara Feizbakhshan, Sharareh Salmanizadeh, Zahra Taherian Esfahani, Faeze Ahmadi Beni, Ameneh Arab, Mohammad Kazemi, Kiana Shahzamani, Ramin Sami, Majid Hosseinzadeh, Mansoor Salehi and Hajie Lotfi

The clone devaluation effect: does duplication of local facial features matter?

The clone devaluation is a phenomenon reported by the latest paper in which eeriness is evoked when people observe individuals with the same face (clone faces) compared to those with different faces. There are...

Authors: Fumiya Yonemitsu, Kyoshiro Sasaki, Akihiko Gobara and Yuki Yamada

Measuring athletic performance in post-metamorphic fire salamanders

Athletic performances are dynamic movements that are physically challenging and often predict individual success in ecological contexts. They stem from a complex integration of multiple phenotypic traits—e.g., mo...

Authors: Erica de Rysky, Bisconti Roberta, Chiocchio Andrea and Canestrelli Daniele

Supplementation of Lactobacillus casei reduces the mortality of Bombyx mori larvae challenged by Nosema bombycis

Pebrine, caused by the microsporidium Nosema bombycis, is one of the severe diseases in Thai polyvoltine strains of the silkworm Bombyx mori. Studies showing the presence of Lactobacillus species in the silkworm ...

Authors: Siripuk Suraporn and Olle Terenius

Microbial analysis and virulence genes detection of milk preserved using heat-assisted pulsed electric field

Microbial analysis in milk preserved using heat-assisted Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) need to be assessed. In this study we analyze the microbial quality and virulence-associated genes in milk samples preserved...

Authors: Suci Yuliangsih, Diana Elizabeth Waturangi and Yogiara

Costs incurred by patients with oral potentially malignant disorders: is there a public health need for financial protection in India?

Financial protection mechanisms are in place to overcome the costs of a few diseases in India. Our objective was to estimate the costs incurred due to Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders (OPMD) and to determi...

Authors: Jay R. Patel and Mihir P. Rupani

The impact of near visual impairment on instrumental activities of daily living among community-dwelling older adults in Selangor

Near visual impairment (VI) is a common disability in an aging population. Near vision is crucial in activity of daily living including reading, smartphone and computer use and meal preparation. This study was...

Authors: Qiu Ting Kee, Mohd Harimi Abd Rahman, Norliza Mohamad Fadzil, Zainora Mohammed and Suzana Shahar

Repeatability of methylation measures using a QIAseq targeted methyl panel and comparison with the Illumina HumanMethylation450 assay

In previous studies using Illumina Infinium methylation arrays, we have identified DNA methylation marks associated with cancer predisposition and progression. In the present study, we have sought to find appr...

Authors: Chenglong Yu, Pierre-Antoine Dugué, James G. Dowty, Fleur Hammet, JiHoon E. Joo, Ee Ming Wong, Mahnaz Hosseinpour, Graham G. Giles, John L. Hopper, Tu Nguyen-Dumont, Robert J. MacInnis and Melissa C. Southey

A toolkit for haptic force feedback in a telerobotic ultrasound system

To develop a collision engine (haptic force feedback simulator) compatible with a 5-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) haptic wand. This has broad applications such as telerobotic ultrasound systems. Integrating force f...

Authors: Reza Fotouhi, Atieh Najafi Semnani, QianWei Zhang, Scott J. Adams and Haron Obaid

Correction to: Whole genome resequencing data sets of different species from Pistacia genus

Authors: Ali Tajabadipour and Ali Esmailizadeh