OBJECTIVE: This study aims to elucidate the relationships between food fussiness, fresh fruit and vegetable consumption, and anthropometric indices of children residing in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted to recruit 179 pairs of consenting caregiver-child. Caregivers were required to report the surveyed child's sex, date of birth, and ethnicity. The six-item food fussiness subscale from the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) was used to assess food fussiness in children. In addition, caregivers were asked to report whether their child had consumed fresh fruits and vegetables over the past month and to list all those they consistently refused to consume. For anthropometric measurements, children's body weight was measured with a digital bathroom scale, and height was measured using a portable stadiometer. Height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) and BMI-for-age z-scores (BAZ) were determined using the WHO Anthro software version 3.2.2 (for children below five) or the WHO AnthroPlus software version 1.0.4 (for children above five). The relationships between the studied variables were analyzed using IBM SPSS statistics version 27.0.
RESULTS: This study revealed that one in two children (54.2%) were fussy eaters, 9.5% did not consume fresh fruits, and 32.4% did not consume fresh vegetables over the past month. The findings from path analyses indicated that food fussiness was negatively correlated with fresh fruit and vegetable consumption. However, there were no significant direct and indirect relationships between food fussiness and anthropometric indices as indicated by HAZ and BAZ of children.
CONCLUSION: The findings of this study demonstrated that food fussiness was negatively correlated with fresh fruit and vegetable consumption. Interventions can be carried out by encouraging children to consume fruits and vegetables they typically reject, such as bean vegetables, pear, papaya, and tuberous vegetables, to prevent nutrient deficiency.
OBJECTIVE: This review aims to explore and discuss the different types of biomaterials that have been applied in the treatment of ischemic stroke, shedding light on their potentials as promising therapeutics options for this debilitating condition.
METHODS: Literature search was performed to identify publications studying the potential of three biomaterials namely: nanobioparticles, hydrogels and extracellular vesicles for ischemic stroke therapy in vitro, in vivo or in clinical using four databases, namely: PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science and Scopus.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The major benefits obtained from the application of nanobioparticles for ischemic stroke therapy included as the nanocarrier for drug/cell delivery, cell tracking, real time imaging, promote cell proliferation, while hydrogels provided scaffold support and conferred neuroprotection to stem cells, as well as provided neurotropic effects and controlled drug release for localized treatment. Lastly the extracellular vesicles were identified as a cell-free treatment strategy in promoting angiogenesis, neuronal differentiation and neurogenesis for ischemic stroke treatment.
CONCLUSION: Biomaterial-based therapies have their own potentials and further clinical investigations are strongly recommended to translate the therapies into more conscientious evidence-based therapy for clinical application.
OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to provide an overview of the status of the ERP environment in Bangladesh's healthcare business and highlight the demands for IT-enabled health infrastructure and challenges to ERP-based health structure adoption.
METHOD: The study conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis extension for systematic reviews using the PRISMA method. Two digital libraries including Scopus and WoS were used in this study for systematic literature review.
RESULTS: The study found no papers conducted on ERP in Bangladesh healthcare, including advantages and disadvantages. Some findings revealed that the adoption of ERP systems in the healthcare industry in Bangladesh remains challenging but not beyond overcome.
CONCLUSIONS: ERP systems would encourage substantial changes in finances, human resources and capacity, revenue, workforce scheduling, and customer satisfaction if they were successfully adopted in healthcare enterprises in Bangladesh. Further improvement is needed in various disciplines based on the existing situation and difficulties with ERP adoption in the healthcare industry. The results of this study will assist the stakeholders in making wise choices regarding the implementation of ERP and upcoming investments in Bangladesh's healthcare industry.
OBJECTIVE: The objective is to examine how injuries affect athletes' mental well-being, their attitudes toward received support, and their use of psychological interventions.
METHODS: A phenomenological approach, analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), was applied to data from 253 elite Turkish basketball players, including active and retired athletes. A structured questionnaire was administered to gather the data.
RESULTS: The results show that while athletes seek individual psychological support, they often feel neglected by their clubs, leading to insecurity and helplessness. Many report dissatisfaction with the mental health services provided by their organisations.
CONCLUSIONS: The study recommends integrating sports psychologists and counsellors within clubs, promoting mental health awareness, and forming interdisciplinary teams to address this. Holistic sports education programs that foster psychological resilience and emotional regulation are also advised. Further research is needed to assess the long-term effects of interventions and the role of organizational support on athletes' mental well-being.
METHODS: The data for this study were sourced from 1,080 students from multiple senior secondary schools using the SOC Questionnaire and the Learning Engagement Scale. This study conducted Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The factor structure analysis of the psychometric properties of SOC Questionnaire were examined on reliability, convergent validity, concurrent criterion validity, and incremental validity.
RESULTS: The EFA results suggested that a three-factor solution was most appropriate for the SOC Questionnaire. The three-factor CFA model of this study calculated correlations different from what was published with an American sample of adolescents by the questionnaire developers. The reliability coefficients (Cronbach's α, McDonald's ω), composite reliability (rho_c), and reliability coefficient (rho_a), convergent and discriminant validity were good. Concurrent criterion validity, and incremental validity were demonstrated by the SOC Questionnaire and the LES.
CONCLUSION: The 17-item, 3-factor SOC Questionnaire demonstrated strong reliability and validity, thus offering a new multidimensional of the SOC Questionnaire to evaluate intentional self-regulation among adolescents in schools.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study utilized the World Health Organization (WHO) Point Prevalence Survey (PPS) methodology among in-patients admitted in level 1 hospitals before 08:00 a.m. on the survey day in August 2024. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS version 23.0.
RESULTS: The prevalence of antibiotic use among inpatients was 59.0%, with ceftriaxone being the most prescribed. Antibiotics were prescribed mainly for paediatrics and male inpatients. This study found that 53.0% of prescribed antibiotics were from the Access group while 38.2% were from the Watch group of the World Health Organization Access, Watch, and Reserve (AWaRe) classification. Adherence to national treatment guidelines was 36.0%, with most antibiotics prescribed empirically without evidence of culture and sensitivity tests.
CONCLUSION: This study found a high use of antibiotics and low adherence to treatment guidelines in level 1 hospitals in Lusaka, Zambia. The findings of this study demonstrate the need to establish and strengthen antimicrobial stewardship programs and strengthen laboratory capacity to aid clinicians in diagnosing, treating, and managing patients across level 1 hospitals in Zambia.
METHODS: Three separate multiplexed PCR reactions were designed together with a testing algorithm, using biotin, digoxigenin and Tamra fluorophore-labelled fungal internal transcribed spacer universal fungal primers, fungal genera-specific primers, and species-specific primers to produce labelled PCR products that were detected on the LFA dipstick. The LFA dipstick, in a modified sandwich format, utilises immobilised antibodies complementary to the fluorophore labels on the PCR products, and gold nanoparticles to form a visible red line that indicates the presence of the targeted fungus. To validate the developed system, 203 clinical samples suspected of fungal infection were collected from two hospitals in Kuala Lumpur and tested.
RESULTS: The limits of detection of the multiplexed PCR were in the range of 5-100 CFU/mL for fungal spiked human blood samples. Against the clinical diagnosis of proven or probable IFDs, the findings show that the LFA system produced a high specificity of 99.4 % while the sensitivity was only moderate at 47.8 % due to the difficulty of extracting fungal DNA from blood samples. The positive and negative predictive values however were promising at 91.7 % and 93.7 %, respectively.
CONCLUSION: The developed LFA system has great potential for further refinement to be used as a new tool in the detection of IFDs.
BACKGROUND: Smoking behavior can affect the pathogenesis and prognosis of neuroimmune gastrointestinal diseases.
AIMS: The purpose of developing tools to assist clinical practice is to avoid the harm of cigarettes to the human body.
METHODS: Molecular dynamics method was used to elucidate the biophysical mechanism of TP53 gene mutation caused by harmful ingredients, and the signaling pathway of midbrain edge excitation was determined by molecular dynamics of nicotine and dopamine receptor D3. The possible involvement of nicotine in neuronal damage was determined through the molecular interaction between nicotine and ACHE. Molecular pathways were analyzed based on the aforementioned biological principles, developed artificial intelligence systems and brain computer interface systems.
RESULTS: Several signaling pathways were elucidated, and effective AI algorithms were developed.
CONCLUSION: The accuracy of artificial intelligence systems is over 70%. This study provides clinical doctors with a new precision medicine strategy and tool to regulate patient behavior and reduce disease risk. Other: This project was approved by the Ethics Committee of Chifeng Cancer Hospital and reported to the WHO.