Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 701 in total

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  1. Anwar A, Khan NA, Siddiqui R
    ACS Chem Neurosci, 2020 08 19;11(16):2378-2384.
    PMID: 32073257 DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.9b00613
    Brain-eating amoebae including Acanthamoeba spp., Naegleria fowleri, and Balamuthia mandrillaris cause rare infections of the central nervous system that almost always result in death. The high mortality rate, lack of interest for drug development from pharmaceutical industries, and no available effective drugs present an alarming challenge. The current drugs employed in the management and therapy of these devastating diseases are amphotericin B, miltefosine, chlorhexidine, pentamidine, and voriconazole which are generally used in combination. However, clinical evidence shows that these drugs have limited efficacy and high host cell cytotoxicity. Repurposing of drugs is a practical approach to utilize commercially available, U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved drugs for one disease against rare diseases caused by brain-eating amoebae. In this Perspective, we highlight some of the success stories of drugs repositioned against neglected parasitic diseases and identify future potential for effective and sustainable drug development against brain-eating amoebae infections.
    Matched MeSH terms: United States; United States Food and Drug Administration
  2. Ab Rahman MF, Rusli A, Misman MA, Rashid AA
    ACS Omega, 2020 Nov 24;5(46):30329-30335.
    PMID: 33251468 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.0c04964
    With increased awareness on the importance of gloves arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, people are expected to continue using them even after the pandemic recedes. This scenario in a way increased the rubber solid waste disposal problem; therefore, the production of biodegradable gloves may be an option to overcome this problem. However, the need to study the shelf life of biodegradable gloves is crucial before commercialization. There are well-established models to address the failure properties of gloves as stated in the American Society for Testing and Material (ASTM) D7160. In this study, polysaccharide-based material-filled natural rubber latex (PFNRL) gloves, which are biodegradable gloves, were subjected to an accelerated aging process at different temperatures of 50-80 °C for 1-120 days. Prediction models based on Arrhenius and shift factors were used to estimate the shelf life of the PFNRL gloves. Based on the results obtained, the estimated time for the PFNRL gloves to retain 75% of their tensile strength at shelf temperature (30 °C) based on Arrhenius and shift factor models was 2.8 years. Verification on the activation energy based on the shift factor model indicated that the shelf life of PFNRL gloves is 2.9 years, which is only a 3.6% difference. The value obtained is aligned with the requirement in accordance with ASTM D7160, which states that only up to a maximum of 3 years' shelf life is allowed for the gloves under accelerated aging conditions.
    Matched MeSH terms: United States
  3. HIV-CAUSAL Collaboration, Ray M, Logan R, Sterne JA, Hernández-Díaz S, Robins JM, et al.
    AIDS, 2010 Jan 02;24(1):123-37.
    PMID: 19770621 DOI: 10.1097/QAD.0b013e3283324283
    OBJECTIVE: To estimate the effect of combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) on mortality among HIV-infected individuals after appropriate adjustment for time-varying confounding by indication.

    DESIGN: A collaboration of 12 prospective cohort studies from Europe and the United States (the HIV-CAUSAL Collaboration) that includes 62 760 HIV-infected, therapy-naive individuals followed for an average of 3.3 years. Inverse probability weighting of marginal structural models was used to adjust for measured confounding by indication.

    RESULTS: Two thousand and thirty-nine individuals died during the follow-up. The mortality hazard ratio was 0.48 (95% confidence interval 0.41-0.57) for cART initiation versus no initiation. In analyses stratified by CD4 cell count at baseline, the corresponding hazard ratios were 0.29 (0.22-0.37) for less than 100 cells/microl, 0.33 (0.25-0.44) for 100 to less than 200 cells/microl, 0.38 (0.28-0.52) for 200 to less than 350 cells/microl, 0.55 (0.41-0.74) for 350 to less than 500 cells/microl, and 0.77 (0.58-1.01) for 500 cells/microl or more. The estimated hazard ratio varied with years since initiation of cART from 0.57 (0.49-0.67) for less than 1 year since initiation to 0.21 (0.14-0.31) for 5 years or more (P value for trend <0.001).

    CONCLUSION: We estimated that cART halved the average mortality rate in HIV-infected individuals. The mortality reduction was greater in those with worse prognosis at the start of follow-up.

    Matched MeSH terms: United States/epidemiology
  4. Meyer JP, Muthulingam D, El-Bassel N, Altice FL
    AIDS Behav, 2017 Dec;21(12):3527-3548.
    PMID: 28534199 DOI: 10.1007/s10461-017-1778-6
    The criminal justice (CJ) system can be leveraged to access women for HIV prevention and treatment programs. Research is lacking on effective implementation strategies tailored to the specific needs of CJ-involved women. We conducted a scoping review of published studies in English from the United States that described HIV interventions, involved women or girls, and used the CJ system as an access point for sampling or intervention delivery. We identified 350 studies and synthesized data from 42 unique interventions, based in closed (n = 26), community (n = 7), or multiple/other CJ settings (n = 9). A minority of reviewed programs incorporated women-specific content or conducted gender-stratified analyses. CJ systems are comprised of diverse access points, each with unique strengths and challenges for implementing HIV treatment and prevention programs for women. Further study is warranted to develop women-specific and trauma-informed content and evaluate program effectiveness.
    Matched MeSH terms: United States
  5. Loeliger KB, Biggs ML, Young R, Seal DW, Beckwith CG, Kuo I, et al.
    AIDS Behav, 2017 Oct;21(10):2945-2957.
    PMID: 28188460 DOI: 10.1007/s10461-017-1722-9
    The U.S. female criminal justice (CJ) population is rapidly growing, yet large-scale studies exploring gender-specific HIV risk behaviors in the CJ population are lacking. This analysis uses baseline data on adults with a CJ history from eight U.S. studies in an NIH-funded "Seek, Test, Treat, Retain" harmonization consortium. Data were collected using a standardized HIV risk behavior assessment tool and pooled across studies to describe participants' characteristics and risk behaviors. Multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression models were used to test for gender-based behavior differences. Among 784 HIV-positive (21.4% female) and 5521 HIV-negative (8.5% female) participants, HIV-positive women had higher odds than HIV-positive men of engaging in condomless sexual intercourse (AOR 1.84 [1.16-2.95]) with potentially sero-discordant partners (AOR 2.40 [1.41-4.09]) and of sharing injection equipment (AOR 3.36 [1.31-8.63]). HIV risk reduction interventions targeting CJ-involved women with HIV are urgently needed as this population may represent an under-recognized potential source of HIV transmission.
    Matched MeSH terms: United States/epidemiology
  6. AIDS Patient Care STDS, 2000 Apr;14(4):225-6.
    PMID: 10806645
    Matched MeSH terms: United States
  7. Fisher DL, Agrawal R, Divekar G, Hamid MA, Krishnan A, Mehranian H, et al.
    Accid Anal Prev, 2024 Apr;198:107397.
    PMID: 38271896 DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2023.107397
    Novice drivers are at a greatly inflated risk of crashing. This led in the 20th century to numerous attempts to develop training programs that could reduce their crash risk. Yet, none proved effective. Novice drivers were largely considered careless, not clueless. This article is a case study in the United States of how a better understanding of the causes of novice driver crashes led to training countermeasures targeting teen driving behaviors with known associations with crashes. These effects on behaviors were large enough and long-lasting enough to convince insurance companies to develop training programs that they offered around the country to teen drivers. The success of the training programs at reducing the frequency of behaviors linked to crashes also led to several large-scale evaluations of the effect of the training programs on actual crashes. A reduction in crashes was observed. The cumulative effect has now led to state driver licensing agencies considering as a matter of policy both to include items testing the behaviors linked to crashes on licensing exams and to require training on safety critical behaviors. The effort has been ongoing for over a quarter century and is continuing. The case study highlights the critical elements that made it possible to move from a paradigm shift in the understanding of crash causes to the development and evaluation of crash countermeasures, to the implementation of those crash countermeasures, and to subsequent policy changes at the state and federal level. Key among these elements is the development of simple, scalable solutions.
    Matched MeSH terms: United States
  8. Wong RMM, Owuamalam CK, Stewart-Williams S
    Acta Psychol (Amst), 2023 Jul;237:103935.
    PMID: 37267880 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.103935
    We investigated the impact of egalitarianism on consumers' inclination to support fair-trade products and examined whether this effect was observed among individuals with different political affiliations. In four experiments featuring a fictional chocolate brand presented in either a social-justice (fair trade) or quality-focused (control) manner, we examined the product purchase intentions of both left- and right-leaning consumers in the United States and Malaysia (Studies 1a, N = 200; 1b, N = 269; & 2, N = 410). Results revealed that participants expressed a greater willingness to support the product when it was framed as contributing to a social justice cause, but this effect was limited to left- and right-leaning consumers who strongly endorsed egalitarian principles. Study 3 (N = 354) employed a mediated-moderation approach and confirmed that an elevated sensitivity to injustice was the underlying mechanism driving increased intentions to support the product among egalitarians exposed to social justice framing. These results demonstrate that right-leaning consumers can be influenced by social justice framing when their commitment to equity is strong.
    Matched MeSH terms: United States
  9. Khoo S, Engelhorn R
    Adapt Phys Activ Q, 2011 Jan;28(1):27-39.
    PMID: 21282846
    Understanding the motivations for people to volunteer with the management and execution of major sporting events is important for the recruitment and retention of the volunteers. This research investigated volunteer motivations at the first National Special Olympics held in Ames, Iowa, USA in July 2006. A total of 289 participants completed the 28 item Special Event Volunteer Motivation Scale. The top motivations related to the purposive incentives of wanting to help make the event a success and to do something good for the community. Factor analysis revealed a five-factor model, with the altruistic factor (purposive) being the most important. A MANCOVA was also used to compare subjects using both gender and experience as independent variables. Small but significant differences in motivation were observed.
    Matched MeSH terms: United States
  10. Gravely S, Driezen P, Ouimet J, Quah ACK, Cummings KM, Thompson ME, et al.
    Addiction, 2019 06;114(6):1060-1073.
    PMID: 30681215 DOI: 10.1111/add.14558
    AIMS: This paper presents updated prevalence estimates of awareness, ever-use, and current use of nicotine vaping products (NVPs) from 14 International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project) countries that have varying regulations governing NVP sales and marketing.

    DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND MEASUREMENTS: A cross-sectional analysis of adult (≥ 18 years) current smokers and ex-smokers from 14 countries participating in the ITC Project. Data from the most recent survey questionnaire for each country were included, which spanned the period 2013-17. Countries were categorized into four groups based on regulations governing NVP sales and marketing (allowable or not), and level of enforcement (strict or weak where NVPs are not permitted to be sold): (1) most restrictive policies (MRPs), not legal to be sold or marketed with strict enforcement: Australia, Brazil, Uruguay; (2) restrictive policies (RPs), not approved for sale or marketing with weak enforcement: Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand; (3) less restrictive policies (LRPs), legal to be sold and marketed with regulations: England, the Netherlands, Republic of Korea, United States; and (4) no regulatory policies (NRPs), Bangladesh, China, Zambia. Countries were also grouped by World Bank Income Classifications. Country-specific weighted logistic regression models estimated adjusted NVP prevalence estimates for: awareness, ever/current use, and frequency of use (daily versus non-daily).

    FINDINGS: NVP awareness and use were lowest in NRP countries. Generally, ever- and current use of NVPs were lower in MRP countries (ever-use = 7.1-48.9%; current use = 0.3-3.5%) relative to LRP countries (ever-use = 38.9-66.6%; current use = 5.5-17.2%) and RP countries (ever-use = 10.0-62.4%; current use = 1.4-15.5%). NVP use was highest among high-income countries, followed by upper-middle-income countries, and then by lower-middle-income countries.

    CONCLUSIONS: With a few exceptions, awareness and use of nicotine vaping products varied by the strength of national regulations governing nicotine vaping product sales/marketing, and by country income. In countries with no regulatory policies, use rates were very low, suggesting that there was little availability, marketing and/or interest in nicotine vaping products in these countries where smoking populations are predominantly poorer. The higher awareness and use of nicotine vaping products in high income countries with moderately (e.g. Canada, New Zealand) and less (e.g. England, United States) restrictive policies, is likely due to the greater availability and affordability of nicotine vaping products.

    Matched MeSH terms: United States/epidemiology
  11. Grundmann O, Babin JK, Henningfield JE, Garcia-Romeu A, Kruegel AC, Prozialeck WC, et al.
    Addiction, 2021 01;116(1):202-203.
    PMID: 32602213 DOI: 10.1111/add.15173
    Matched MeSH terms: United States
  12. Permanasari AE, Rambli DR, Dominic PD
    Adv Exp Med Biol, 2011;696:171-9.
    PMID: 21431557 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-7046-6_17
    The annual disease incident worldwide is desirable to be predicted for taking appropriate policy to prevent disease outbreak. This chapter considers the performance of different forecasting method to predict the future number of disease incidence, especially for seasonal disease. Six forecasting methods, namely linear regression, moving average, decomposition, Holt-Winter's, ARIMA, and artificial neural network (ANN), were used for disease forecasting on tuberculosis monthly data. The model derived met the requirement of time series with seasonality pattern and downward trend. The forecasting performance was compared using similar error measure in the base of the last 5 years forecast result. The findings indicate that ARIMA model was the most appropriate model since it obtained the less relatively error than the other model.
    Matched MeSH terms: United States/epidemiology
  13. Von Keep PA
    Adv Fertil Control, 1967;2:1-5.
    PMID: 12275322
    Matched MeSH terms: United States
  14. Kobayashi LC, O'Shea BQ, Wixom C, Jones RN, Langa KM, Weir D, et al.
    Alzheimers Dement, 2024 Mar;20(3):1933-1943.
    PMID: 38159252 DOI: 10.1002/alz.13665
    INTRODUCTION: We conducted a cross-national comparison of the association between main lifetime occupational skills and later-life cognitive function across four economically and socially distinct countries.

    METHODS: Data were from population-based studies of aging and their Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocols (HCAPs) in the US, South Africa, India, and Mexico (N = 10,037; Age range: 50 to 105 years; 2016 to 2020). Main lifetime occupational skill was classified according to the International Standard Classification of Occupations. Weighted, adjusted regression models estimated pooled and country-specific associations between main lifetime occupational skill and later-life general cognitive function in men and women.

    RESULTS: We observed positive gradients between occupational skill and later-life cognitive function for men and women in the US and Mexico, a positive gradient for women but not men in India, and no association for men or women in South Africa.

    DISCUSSION: Main lifetime occupations may be a source of later-life cognitive reserve, with cross-national heterogeneity in this association.

    HIGHLIGHTS: No studies have examined cross-national differences in the association of occupational skill with cognition. We used data from Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocols in the US, Mexico, India, and South Africa. The association of occupational skill with cognitive function varies by country and gender.

    Matched MeSH terms: United States/epidemiology
  15. Luo N, Teng TK, Tay WT, Anand IS, Kraus WE, Liew HB, et al.
    Am Heart J, 2017 Sep;191:75-81.
    PMID: 28888273 DOI: 10.1016/j.ahj.2017.06.016
    BACKGROUND: Assessing health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with heart failure (HF) is an important goal of clinical care and HF research. We sought to investigate ethnic differences in perceived HRQoL and its association with mortality among patients with HF and left ventricular ejection fraction ≤35%, controlling for demographic characteristics and HF severity.

    METHODS AND RESULTS: We compared 5697 chronic HF patients of Indian (26%), white (23%), Chinese (17%), Japanese/Koreans (12%), black (12%), and Malay (10%) ethnicities from the HF-ACTION and ASIAN-HF multinational studies using the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ; range 0-100; higher scores reflect better health status). KCCQ scores were lowest in Malay (58±22) and Chinese (60±23), intermediate in black (64±21) and Indian (65±23), and highest in white (67±20) and Japanese or Korean patients (67±22) after adjusting for age, sex, educational status, HF severity, and risk factors. Self-efficacy, which measures confidence in the ability to manage symptoms, was lower in all Asian ethnicities (especially Japanese/Koreans [60±26], Malay [66±23], and Chinese [64±28]) compared to black (80±21) and white (82±19) patients, even after multivariable adjustment (P

    Matched MeSH terms: United States/epidemiology
  16. Taylor ML, Cooper RL, Schneider EL, Osborn JM
    Am J Bot, 2015 Oct;102(10):1685-702.
    PMID: 26419810 DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1500249
    A knowledge of pollen characters in early-diverging angiosperm lineages is essential for understanding pollen evolution and the role of pollen in angiosperm diversification. In this paper, we report and synthesize data on mature pollen and pollen ontogeny from all genera of Nymphaeales within a comparative, phylogenetic context and consider pollen evolution in this early-diverging angiosperm lineage. We describe mature pollen characters for Euryale, Barclaya, and Nymphaea ondinea, taxa for which little to no structural data exist.
    Matched MeSH terms: United States
  17. Zeldin S, Krauss SE, Collura J, Lucchesi M, Sulaiman AH
    Am J Community Psychol, 2014 Dec;54(3-4):337-47.
    PMID: 25216734 DOI: 10.1007/s10464-014-9676-9
    Youth participation in program and community decision making is framed by scholars as an issue of social justice, a platform for positive youth development and effective citizenry, and a strategy for nation building. Recent literature reviews have consistently identified youth-adult partnership (Y-AP) as an effective type of youth participation across highly diverse contexts. These same reviews, however, note that indicators of Y-AP have not been conceptualized and validated for measurement purposes. The present study addresses this limitation by developing a brief measure of Y-AP that is explicitly grounded in current theory, research, and community practice. The measure was administered to youth in the United States, Malaysia, and Portugal (N = 610). Validation was assessed through factor analysis and tests of factorial, discriminant, and concurrent validity. Results confirmed the two predicted dimensions of the Y-AP measure: youth voice in decision making and supportive adult relationships. These two dimensions were also found to be distinct from other measures of program quality: safety and engagement. As predicted, they also significantly correlated with measures of agency and empowerment. It is concluded that the measure has the potential to support community efforts to maximize the quality of youth programs.
    Matched MeSH terms: United States
  18. Rosenthal VD, Maki DG, Mehta Y, Leblebicioglu H, Memish ZA, Al-Mousa HH, et al.
    Am J Infect Control, 2014 09;42(9):942-56.
    PMID: 25179325 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2014.05.029
    We report the results of an International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2007-December 2012 in 503 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. During the 6-year study using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) U.S. National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions for device-associated health care-associated infection (DA-HAI), we collected prospective data from 605,310 patients hospitalized in the INICC's ICUs for an aggregate of 3,338,396 days. Although device utilization in the INICC's ICUs was similar to that reported from ICUs in the U.S. in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals: the pooled rate of central line-associated bloodstream infection in the INICC's ICUs, 4.9 per 1,000 central line days, is nearly 5-fold higher than the 0.9 per 1,000 central line days reported from comparable U.S. ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was also higher (16.8 vs 1.1 per 1,000 ventilator days) as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (5.5 vs 1.3 per 1,000 catheter days). Frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas isolates to amikacin (42.8% vs 10%) and imipenem (42.4% vs 26.1%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (71.2% vs 28.8%) and imipenem (19.6% vs 12.8%) were also higher in the INICC's ICUs compared with the ICUs of the CDC's NHSN.
    Matched MeSH terms: United States/epidemiology
  19. Yahya M'F, Wang GM, Nimbalkar S
    Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop, 2023 Jul;164(1):97-105.
    PMID: 36890012 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajodo.2022.11.013
    INTRODUCTION: The evaluation of the quality of information (QOI) and clarity of information (COI) among oral health-related videos on the video-streaming Web site YouTube is scarce. This study evaluated QOI and COI regarding temporary anchorage devices contained within videos uploaded by dental professionals (DPs) on YouTube.

    METHODS: YouTube videos were systematically acquired with 4 search terms. The top 50 videos per search term by the number of views were stored in a YouTube account. A set of inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied, videos were assessed for viewing characteristics, a 4-point scoring system (0-3) was applied to evaluate QOI in 10 predetermined domains, and a 3-point scoring system (0-2) was applied to evaluate COI. Descriptive statistical analyses and intrarater and interrater reliability tests were performed.

    RESULTS: Strong intrarater and interrater reliability scores were observed. Sixty-three videos from the top 58 most-viewed DPs were viewed 1,395,471 times (range, 414-124,939). Most DPs originated from the United States (20%), and orthodontists (62%) uploaded most of the videos. The mean number of reported domains was 2.03 ± 2.40 (out of 10). The mean overall QOI score per domain was 0.36 ± 0.79 (out of 3). The "Placement of miniscrews" domain scored highest (1.23 ± 0.75). The "Cost of miniscrews placement" domain scored the lowest (0.03 ± 0.25). The mean overall QOI score per DP was 3.59 ± 5.64 (out of 30). The COI in 32 videos was immeasurable, and only 2 avoided using technical words.

    CONCLUSIONS: The QOI related to temporary anchorage devices contained within videos provided by DPs through the YouTube Web site is deficient, particularly in the cost of placement. Orthodontists should be aware of the importance of YouTube as an information resource and ensure that videos related to temporary anchorage devices contain comprehensive and evidence-based information.

    Matched MeSH terms: United States
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