Articles

A spatial-epidemiological dataset of subjects infected by SARS-CoV-2 during the first wave of the pandemic in Mashhad, second-most populous city in Iran

In March 2020, Iran tackled the first national wave of COVID-19 that was particularly felt in Mashhad, Iran’s second-most populous city. Accordingly, we performed a spatio-temporal study in this city to invest...

Authors: Shahab MohammadEbrahimi, Alireza Mohammadi, Robert Bergquist, Mahsan Akbarian, Mahnaz Arian, Elahe Pishgar and Behzad Kiani

Characterization of genomic DNA sequence of the candidate gene for FB_Mfu10 associated with fire blight resistance in Malus species

The proposed candidate gene underlying the Malus fusca fire blight resistance locus on chromosome 10 was previously predicted to possess 880 amino acids and 8 exons. Eight base pair (8 bp) insertion/deletion in t...

Authors: Ofere Francis Emeriewen, Henryk Flachowsky and Andreas Peil

Reproducibility of left ventricular blood flow kinetic energy measured by four-dimensional flow CMR

Four-dimensional flow CMR allows for a comprehensive assessment of the blood flow kinetic energy of the ventricles of the heart. In comparison to standard two-dimensional image acquisition, 4D flow CMR is felt...

Authors: Ciaran Grafton-Clarke, Saul Crandon, Jos J. M. Westenberg, Peter P. Swoboda, John P. Greenwood, Rob J. van der Geest, Andrew J. Swift, Vassilios S. Vassiliou, Sven Plein and Pankaj Garg

Sexual jokes at school and students’ life satisfaction: findings from the 2017/18 Swedish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study

In a previous study we demonstrated that the occurrence of sexual jokes in the class was associated with higher levels of psychological health complaints. Building on and extending these findings, the aim of t...

Authors: Sara Brolin Låftman, Ylva Bjereld, Bitte Modin and Petra Löfstedt

The COVID-19 pandemic: doom to international medical electives? Results from two German elective databases

International medical electives are an essential part of medical education and popular among medical students. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, many students had assistantship placements postponed and el...

Authors: Abdullah Egiz and Maximilian Andreas Storz

Exploring health workers’ experiences of mental health challenges during care of patients with COVID-19 in Uganda: a qualitative study

The aim of this study is to qualitatively investigate the lived experiences of mental health among frontline health workers providing COVID-19-realted care in Uganda. This study provides insights into the cont...

Authors: Choolwe Muzyamba, Ogylive Makova and Geofrey Samukulu Mushibi

Intrabronchial application of extracellular histones shows no proinflammatory effects in swine in a translational pilot study

Extracellular histones have been identified as one molecular factor that can cause and sustain alveolar damage and were linked to high mortality rates in critically ill patients. In this pilot study, we wanted...

Authors: Robert Ruemmler, Alexander Ziebart, Elisabeth Britten, Moritz Gosling, Rene Rissel and Erik K. Hartmann

Association of quality of life, anxiety, and depression with restless leg syndrome in the hemodialysis patients

Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is commonly known to cause morbidity in patients on hemodialysis, making them prone to chronic mental health illnesses such as depression and anxiety, and also adversely impact qua...

Authors: Mahjabeen Yaseen, Furqan Ahmad Jarullah, Sadia Yaqoob, Hassan Abdullah Shakeel, Hamza Maqsood and Sadiq Naveed

The omega-3 and Nano-curcumin effects on vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM) in episodic migraine patients: a randomized clinical trial

The purpose of this clinical trial was to examine the effect of omega-3 fatty acids (W-3 FAs), nanocurcumin and their combination on serum levels and gene expression of VCAM in patients with episodic migraine.

Authors: Mina Abdolahi, Elmira Karimi, Payam Sarraf, Abbas Tafakhori, Goli Siri, Farahnaz Salehinia, Mohsen Sedighiyan, Behzad Asanjarani, Mostafa Badeli, Hamed Abdollahi, Niyoosha Yoosefi, Abolghasem yousefi, Amir Shayegan rad and Mahmoud Djalali

An exploratory assessment of the applicability of direct-to-consumer genetic testing to translational research in Japan

In order to assess the applicability of a direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing to translational research for obtaining new knowledge on relationships between drug target genes and diseases, we examined pos...

Authors: Masahiro Inoue, Shota Arichi, Tsuyoshi Hachiya, Anna Ohtera, Seok-Won Kim, Eric Yu, Masatoshi Nishimura, Kazuhito Shiosakai and Takeshi Ohira

Mental health and resilience among Eritrean refugees at arrival and one-year post-registration in Switzerland: a cohort study

Eritrea is the most frequent country of origin among asylum seekers in Switzerland. On their journey through the desert and across the Mediterranean Sea, Eritrea refugees are often exposed to traumatizing expe...

Authors: Afona Chernet, Nicole Probst-Hensch, Véronique Sydow, Daniel H. Paris and Niklaus D. Labhardt

Chronic stress and poor sleeping habits are associated with self-reported IBS and poor psychological well-being in the general population

The present population-based study aimed to examine the association of chronic stress and sleeping difficulties with self-reported irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms past 2 weeks, a...

Authors: Jasmin Zejnelagic and Bodil Ohlsson

High carbohydrate intakes may predict more inflammatory status than high fat intakes in pre-menopause women with overweight or obesity: a cross-sectional study

The associations between dietary carbohydrate, fat intake, and inflammation are controversial. Most existing data are from industrialized societies which low-carbohydrate and high-fat diet is common and so the...

Authors: Elmira Karimi, Habib Yarizadeh, Leila Setayesh, Seyyedeh Forough Sajjadi, Nasim Ghodoosi, Leil Khorraminezhad and Khadijeh Mirzaei

Retrospective analysis of the clinical presentation and imaging of eight primary benign mediastinal schwannomas

Mediastinal schwannomas are sometimes confused with other neoplasms during initial radiological studies, especially when there is a history of cancer in another area. In these cases, a more accurate analysis u...

Authors: Ramiro Sandoval-Macias, Irving Daniel Ortiz-Sanchez, Ana Lilia Remirez-Castellanos, Luis Mora-Hernandez, Candelaria Cordova-Uscanga, Alejandra Mantilla-Morales, Tania Alejandra Galindo-Garcia, Armando Gamboa-Dominguez and Fernando Candanedo-Gonzalez

Modeling organizational intelligence, learning, forgetting and agility using structural equation model approaches in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences Hospitals

Strengthening the organizational agility of the hospital can lead to decreased production costs and increased market share, better serving to patients' needs, introduction of new services and increased competi...

Authors: Zahra Kavosi, Sajad Delavari, Mohammad Mehdi Kiani, Peivand Bastani, Mohebat Vali and Marzieh Salehi

Recruiting ‘hard to reach’ parents for health promotion research: experiences from a qualitative study

Marginalised populations are less likely to take part in health research, and are sometimes considered ‘easy to ignore’. We aimed to describe our approach and results of recruiting parents who experience disad...

Authors: Louise Tully, Eleni Spyreli, Virginia Allen-Walker, Karen Matvienko-Sikar, Sheena McHugh, Jayne Woodside, Michelle C. McKinley, Patricia M. Kearney, Moira Dean, Catherine Hayes, Caroline Heary and Colette Kelly

Archaeal Orc1 protein interacts with T-rich single-stranded DNA

The ability to form nucleoprotein complexes is a fundamental activity of DNA replication initiation proteins. They bind within or nearby the region of replication origin what results in melting of a double-str...

Authors: Katarzyna Wegrzyn and Igor Konieczny

Design and validation of a food frequency questionnaire to assess the dietary intake for adults in pastoral settings in Northern Tanzania

Food frequency questionnaires are widely used as a dietary assessment tool in nutritional epidemiology to determine the relationship between diet and diseases. In Tanzania, there are several cultural variation...

Authors: Ahmed Gharib Khamis, Akwilina Wendelin Mwanri, Julius Edward Ntwenya, Mbazi Senkoro, Katharina Kreppel, Bassirou Bonfoh, Sayoki Godfrey Mfinanga and Gideon Kwesigabo

DNA sonification for public engagement in bioinformatics

Visualisation methods, primarily color-coded representation of sequence data, have been a predominant means of representation of DNA data. Algorithmic conversion of DNA sequence data to sound—sonification—repr...

Authors: Heleen Plaisier, Thomas R. Meagher and Daniel Barker

Maintenance of skeletal muscle mass during FOLFIRINOX is a favorable prognostic factor in pancreatic cancer patients

The study aimed to investigate the effect of body composition changes during chemotherapy on clinical outcomes in patients with pancreatic cancer.

Authors: Dong Woo Shin, Minseok Albert Kim, Jong-chan Lee, Jaihwan Kim and Jin-Hyeok Hwang

Health service experiences and preferences of frail home care clients and their family and friend caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a major upheaval in the lives of older adults and their family/friend caregivers, including those utilizing home care services. In this article, we focus on results from...

Authors: Lori E. Weeks, Sue Nesto, Bradley Hiebert, Grace Warner, Wendy Luciano, Kathleen Ledoux and Lorie Donelle

A comparative study of nested-PCR and direct agglutination test (DAT) for the detection of Leishmania infantum infection in symptomatic and asymptomatic domestic dogs

Canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) is the main source of human visceral leishmaniosis (HVL) in Mediterranean region, including Iran and is spread from domestic dogs to Phlebotomine sand flies vectors to humans. ...

Authors: Yonas Yimam Ayene, Mehdi Mohebali, Homa Hajjaran, Behnaz Akhoundi, Saeedeh Shojaee, Abbas Rahimi-Foroushani, Mohammad Javad Abbaszadeh Afshar and Z. Zarei

Genome-wide transcriptomic analysis of the forebrain of postnatal Slc13a4^+/− mice

Sulfation is an essential physiological process that regulates the function of a wide array of molecules involved in brain development. We have previously shown expression levels for the sulfate transporter Slc13...

Authors: Tracey J. Harvey, Raul Ayala Davila, Diana Vidovic, Sazia Sharmin, Michael Piper and David G. Simmons

Correction to: Pseudomonas aeruginosa prioritizes detoxification of hydrogen peroxide over nitric oxide

Authors: Darshan M. Sivaloganathan and Mark P. Brynildsen

Facility assessment and qualitative analysis of health worker perspectives on neonatal health in Malawi

The “Integrating a neonatal healthcare package for Malawi” (IMCHA#108030) project conducted mixed-methods to understand facility-based implementation factors for newborn health innovations in low-resourced hea...

Authors: Mai-Lei Woo Kinshella, Alinane Linda Nyondo-Mipando, Queen Dube, David M. Goldfarb and Kondwani Kawaza

Genome sequence analysis of new plum pox virus isolates from Japan

To find mutations that may have recently occurred in Plum pox virus (PPV), we collected six PPV-infected plum/peach trees from the western part of Japan and one from the eastern part. After sequencing the full-le...

Authors: Tomoaki Mori, Chiaki Warner, Serika Ohno, Koichi Mori, Takamasa Tobimatsu and Takashi Sera

Short-term effect of ovariohysterectomy on urine serotonin, cortisol, testosterone and progesterone in bitches

This study aimed to investigate the short-term effect of ovariohysterectomy on urine levels of serotonin and its relation to levels of cortisol, testosterone and progesterone in female dogs. Seven bitches were...

Authors: Eva Hydbring-Sandberg, Elin Larsson, Andrzej Madej and Odd Viking Höglund

Pharmacokinetic evaluation of Chalcone derivatives with antimalarial activity in New Zealand White Rabbits

Malaria is a major global health concern with the urgent need for new treatment alternatives due to the alarming increase of drug-resistant Plasmodium strains. Chalcones and its derivatives are important pharmaco...

Authors: Shweta Sinha, Ajay Prakash, Bikash Medhi, Alka Sehgal, Daniela I. Batovska and Rakesh Sehgal

Fixed point results for weak contractions in partially ordered b-metric space

Authors: N. Seshagiri Rao, K. Kalyani and K. Prasad

Estimating the wave 1 and wave 2 infection fatality rates from SARS-CoV-2 in India

There has been much discussion and debate around the underreporting of COVID-19 infections and deaths in India. In this short report we first estimate the underreporting factor for infections from publicly ava...

Authors: Soumik Purkayastha, Ritoban Kundu, Ritwik Bhaduri, Daniel Barker, Michael Kleinsasser, Debashree Ray and Bhramar Mukherjee

De novo transcriptome assembly data for sengon (Falcataria moluccana) trees displaying resistance and susceptibility to boktor stem borers (Xystrocera festiva Pascoe)

Sengon (Falcataria moluccana) is a popular tree species in community plantation forests in Java, Indonesia due to its fast-growing and multipurpose characteristics. However, without effective control measures sen...

Authors: Ulfah J. Siregar, Aditya Nugroho, Hasyyati Shabrina, Fitri Indriani, Apriliya Damayanti and Deden D. Matra

Retraction Note to: Childhood nosocomial viral acute respiratory tract infections in teaching hospital Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Authors: Jayaweera Arachchige Asela Sampath Jayaweera and Mohammed Reyes

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia after induction of chemotherapy: a pilot descriptive correlational study from Palestine

Pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most prevalent type of cancer among children. This study was conducted to describe and correlate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of treatment of pa...

Authors: Ramzi Shawahna, Sultan Mosleh, Yahya Odeh, Rami Halawa and Majd Al-Ghoul

Relation between Halls’ Professionalism Scale and nurses’ demographic characteristics

Nursing Professionalism was measured by Hall’s Professionalism Scale, consisting of 50 items. The scale was developed to measure the attitudes and ideologies held by professionals in various professional occup...

Authors: Tinda Rabie

The impact of Health Transformation Plan on natural vaginal delivery and cesarean section frequency in Iran: an interrupted time series analysis

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the Iran’s Health Transformation Plan on the frequency of natural vaginal deliveries (NVDs), cesarean sections (CSs), and total deliveries in the Fars provinc...

Authors: Farhad Lotfi, Saeed Lohivash, Zahra Kavosi, Sakine Owjimehr and Mohsen Bayati

Resting-state EEG datasets of adolescents with mild, minimal, and moderate depression

To measure depressive severity of 85 Thai adolescents by using the the Beck Depression Inventory-II and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and to record the resting-state EEG of these participants.

Authors: Saravut Rachamanee and Peera Wongupparaj

A modified protocol for successful miRNA profiling in human precision-cut lung slices (PCLS)

Human precision cut lung slices (PCLS) are widely used as an ex vivo model system for drug discovery and development of new therapies. PCLS reflect the functional heterogeneity of lung tissue and possess relev...

Authors: Monika Niehof, Stella Marie Reamon-Buettner, Olga Danov, Tanja Hansen and Katherina Sewald

Quality assessment of nine paracetamol 500 mg tablet brands marketed in Saudi Arabia

To evaluate in-vitro quality of paracetamol 500 mg tablet brands marketed in Saudi Arabia.

Authors: Reem AlSwayeh, Syed N. Alvi and Muhammad M. Hammami

The effect of Melissa officinalis syrup on patients with mild to moderate psoriasis: a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial

Psoriasis is an immune-mediated inflammatory skin disease. It can involve any body skin area, particularly the scalp, lower back, elbows, and knees. There are several topical and systemic therapies for the tre...

Authors: Alireza Yargholi, Leila Shirbeigi, Roja Rahimi, Parvin Mansouri and Mohammad Hossein Ayati

Latent tuberculosis infection among patients with and without type-2 diabetes mellitus: results from a hospital case-control study in Atlanta

The purpose of this study is to compare the prevalence of latent TB infection (LTBI) among patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) to healthy controls without T2DM. To achieve this objective, we conducte...

Authors: Argita D. Salindri, J. Sonya Haw, Genet A. Amere, Joyce T. Alese, Guillermo E. Umpierrez and Matthew J. Magee

Predictive value of hepatic transaminases during febrile phase as a predictor of a severe form of Dengue: analysis of adult Dengue patients from a tertiary care setting of Sri Lanka

Dengue viral infection is an ongoing epidemic in Sri Lanka, causing significant mortality and morbidity. A descriptive-analytical study was carried out using serologically confirmed Dengue patients during a 6 ...

Authors: Dickowita Kankanamge Dilani Priyangika, Gayani Premawansa, Madura Adikari, Sharmila Thillainathan, Sunil Premawansa, Bernard Deepal Wanniarachchi Jayamanne and Ranjan Premaratna

Patterns of financial incentives in primary healthcare settings in Nigeria: implications for the productivity of frontline health workers

This study was designed to explore the patterns of financial incentives received by some frontline health workers (including nurses, midwives as well as community health workers in paid employment) and the imp...

Authors: Ekechi Okereke, George Eluwa, Akinwumi Akinola, Ibrahim Suleiman, Godwin Unumeri and Sylvia Adebajo

Screening and characterization of cellulolytic molds from empty fruit bunches and soils in palm oil plantation area in Indonesia

This research was aimed to isolate cellulolytic molds in empty fruit bunches of oil palm (EFBOP) and soils from palm oil plantation area and identify their enzyme activities to digest EFBOP.

Authors: Tracy Miller, Diana Elizabeth Waturangi and Tresnawati Purwadaria

Swimming turn performance: the distinguishing factor in 1500 m world championship freestyle races?

Turn sections represent the second largest part of total race time in 1500 m freestyle races and may substantially affect race results. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate individual race strate...

Authors: Marek Polach, Dan Thiel, Jan Kreník and Dennis-Peter Born

A novel blood-based assay for treatment monitoring of tuberculosis

A novel 3-gene host transcriptional signature (GBP5, DUSP3 and KLF2) has been validated for tuberculosis (TB) treatment monitoring using laboratory-based RNA sequencing platforms. The signature was recently trans...

Authors: Alexandra J. Zimmer, Samuel G. Schumacher, Erik Södersten, Anna Mantsoki, Romain Wyss, David H. Persing, Sara Banderby, Linda Strömqvist Meuzelaar, Jacqueline Prieto, Devasena Gnanashanmugam, Purvesh Khatri, Stefano Ongarello, Morten Ruhwald and Claudia M. Denkinger

Evaluation of the effect of probiotic as add-on therapy with conventional therapy and alone in malaria induced mice

Chloroquine is used as a conventional drug therapy for the treatment of malaria. The existence of resistance to chloroquine shown among various species of Plasmodium leads to the search for more efficacious thera...

Authors: Eshani Mahajan, Shweta Sinha, Alka Bhatia, Rakesh Sehgal and Bikash Medhi

Presepsin values and prognostic nutritional index predict mortality in intensive care unit patients with sepsis: a pilot study

Sepsis is a major cause of mortality for critically ill patients. This study aimed to determine whether presepsin values can predict mortality in patients with sepsis.

Authors: Yuichiro Shimoyama, Osamu Umegaki, Noriko Kadono and Toshiaki Minami

Glutathione S-transferase M1 and T1 genes deletion polymorphisms and blood pressure control among treated essential hypertensive patients in Burkina Faso

Glutathione S-transferases have been associated with experimental resistance to some drugs. The present study investigated the factors associated with blood pressure control in patients with essential hyperten...

Authors: Herman Karim Sombié, Daméhan Tchelougou, Abdoul Karim Ouattara, Jonas Koudougou Kologo, Pegdwendé Abel Sorgho, Dogfunianalo Somda, Sakinata Yaméogo, Arsène Wendpagnangdé Zongo, Isabelle Touwendpoulimdé Kiendrebeogo, Enagnon Tiémoko Herman Donald Adoko, Albert Théophane Yonli, Florencia Wendkuuni Djigma, Patrice Zabsonré, Hassanata Millogo and Jacques Simporé

Mathematical analysis of the effect of portal vein cells on biliary epithelial cell differentiation through the Delta-Notch signaling pathway

The Delta-Notch signaling pathway induces fine-grained patterns of differentiation from initially homogeneous progenitor cells in many biological contexts, including Drosophila bristle formation, where mathematic...

Authors: Masaharu Yoshihara, Teppei Nishino, Manoj Kumar Yadav, Akihiro Kuno, Takeshi Nagata, Hiroyasu Ando and Satoru Takahashi

Harmful mutation load in the mitochondrial genomes of cattle breeds

Domestication of wild animals results in a reduction in the effective population size, and this could affect the deleterious mutation load of domesticated breeds. Furthermore, artificial selection will also co...

Authors: Sankar Subramanian