Japan has been recognized for its excellent universal health coverage system. However, the migrant population faces many barriers in accessing health services in Japan. Japan hosts around 260,000 international students, mostly from developing countries. Among them, language school students tripled from 2011 to 2017, against the backdrop of labor shortage in Japan. Most of these students are also engaged

Background Valid and reliable outcome measures are needed to determine and compare treatment results of port wine stain (PWS) studies. Besides, uniformity in outcome measures is crucial to enable inter-study comparisons and meta-analyses. This study aimed to assess the heterogeneity in reported PWS outcome measures by mapping the (clinical) outcome measures currently used in prospective PWS studies

This paper proposes an intersection management strategy for autonomous vehicles under the vehicle-to-infrastructure circumstance. All vehicles are supposed to be fully autonomous and can communicate with the intersection management unit to check the traffic situation. Priority of passing the intersection is decided by a static conflict matrix which represents the potential conflict between lanes of

We sequenced 25 isolates of phenotypically multidrug-resistant Salmonella Indiana (n = 11), Typhimurium (n = 8), and Enteritidis (n = 6) using both MinION long-read [SQK-LSK109 and flow cell (R9.4.1)] and MiSeq short-read (Nextera XT and MiSeq Reagent Kit v2) sequencing technologies to determine the advantages of each approach in terms of the characteristics of genome structure, antimicrobial resistance

Objective The use of epidural analgesia after major surgery is a well-established analgesia method. Epidural analgesia for postoperative pain relief needs to be monitored regularly in order to evaluate patient satisfaction and avoid side effects. However, due to the new available regional techniques, the role of epidural analgesia is being questioned and data about patient satisfaction is lacking.

Background Normothermic ex vivo liver perfusion (NEVLP) is a promising strategy to increase the donor pool in liver transplantation. Small animal models are essential to further investigate questions regarding organ preservation and reconditioning by NEVLP. A dual vessel small animal NEVLP (dNEVLP) model was developed using metamizole as a vasodilator and compared to conventional portovenous single

Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive, solid tumor, with a grave prognosis. Despite surgical treatment in patients with pancreatic cancer, the rate of recurrence is high. In addition, although tumor biomarkers are frequently used to confirm advanced pancreatic cancer, this is not accurate and the biomarkers currently used cannot indicate prognosis. This study sought to evaluate circulating tumor DNA as

Volvox sect. Volvox is an interesting group of green algae; it comprises mostly monoicous species, but evidence suggests an evolution towards dioicy. Based on cultured strains originating from Thailand, we describe Volvox longispiniferus, a novel species in Volvox sect. Volvox. This species is distinguished from others in the section by the large number of sperm packets in its monoicous sexual spheroids

Global climate change has led to a significant increase in temperature over the last century and has been associated with significant increases in the severity and frequency of heat injury (HI). The consequences of HI included dehydration and rhabdomyolysis, leading to acute kidney injury, which is now recognized as a clear risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD). We aimed to investigate the effects

Introduction People Living with HIV (PLHIV) bear a disproportionate burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Despite their significant toll across populations globally, the NCD burden among key populations (KP) in Kenya remains unknown. The burden of four NCD-categories (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes) was evaluated among female sex workers (FSWs) and

Amongst the most robust consensus related to the COVID-19 disease is that the elderly are by far the most vulnerable population group. Hence, public authorities target older people in order to convince them to comply with preventive measures. However, we still know little about older people’s attitudes and compliance toward these measures. In this research, I aim to improve our understanding of elderly

Background/aims Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading indication for liver transplantation (LT) worldwide. Early identification of patients at risk for HCC recurrence is of paramount importance since early treatment of recurrent HCC after LT may be associated with increased survival. We evaluated incidence of and predictors for HCC recurrence, with a focus on the course of AFP levels. Methods

Background With the growing adoption of the electronic health record (EHR) worldwide over the last decade, new opportunities exist for leveraging EHR data for detection of rare diseases. Rare diseases are often not diagnosed or delayed in diagnosis by clinicians who encounter them infrequently. One such rare disease that may be amenable to EHR-based detection is acute hepatic porphyria (AHP). AHP consists

Background The association among psychological, neuropsychological dysfunctions and functional/clinical variables in Chronic Heart Failure (CHF) has been extensively addressed in literature. However, only a few studies investigated those associations in the older population. Purpose To evaluate the psychological/neuropsychological profile of older CHF patients, to explore the interrelation with clinical/functional

Fatigue and cognitive deficits are often co-occurring symptoms reported by patients after radiation therapy for prostate cancer. In this study, we induced fatigue-like behavior in mice using targeted pelvic irradiation to mimic the clinical treatment regimen and assess cognitive behavioral changes. We observed that pelvic irradiation produced a robust fatigue phenotype, a reduced rate of spontaneous

Powdery mildew is an important foliar disease of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) caused by the biotrophic fungus Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei (Bgh). The understanding of the resistance mechanism is essential for future resistance breeding. In particular, the identification of race-nonspecific resistance genes is important because of their regarded durability and broad-spectrum activity. We assessed

Introduction The incidence rate of MS is a valuable indicator of the recent changes in the risk of this disease, and it is widely implicated for health planning purposes. Objectives This study aims to determine the MS incidence over the past eleven years in Mazandaran province and to compare it with the other parts of Iran and the world. Materials and methods This retrospective study is conducted in

The present study investigated the effects of four woody forages (Moringa oleifera Lam (MOL), fermented MOL, Folium mori (FM) and fermented FM) on biodiversity and bioactivity of aerobic culturable gut bacteria of tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) by a traditional culture-dependent method. A total of 133 aerobic culturable isolates were recovered and identified from the gut of tilapia, belonging to 35

Objective Decades of research have established how to measure metacognition (i.e., awareness of one’s cognitive abilities), whereas relatively little is known about how to assess the integrity of financial awareness (FA; awareness of one’s financial abilities), a related construct with practical implications for vulnerable older adults. The current study’s goal was to apply established metacognitive

To gain a better insight into the selenium nanoparticle (nSe) benefits/toxicity, this experiment was carried out to address the behavior of bitter melon seedlings to nSe (0, 1, 4, 10, 30, and 50 mgL-1) or bulk form (selenate). Low doses of nSe increased biomass accumulation, while concentrations of 10 mgL-1 and above were associated with stem bending, impaired root meristem, and severe toxicity. Responses

Aortic aneurysm refers to dilatation of the aorta due to loss of elasticity and degenerative weakening of its wall. A preventive role for osteoprotegerin (Opg) in the development of abdominal aortic aneurysm has been reported in the CaCl2-induced aneurysm model, whereas Opg was found to promote suprarenal aortic aneurysm in the AngII-induced ApoE knockout mouse aneurysm model. To determine whether

The scope of practice of the osteopathic profession in Italy is underreported. The first part of the present study investigated the Italian osteopaths' profile, focusing on the socio-demographic information and geographical distribution together with the main characteristics of their education. The OPERA-IT study highlighted that the majority of respondents declared to work as sole practitioners (58

Recent studies describe the use of UAVs in collecting blow samples from large whales to analyze the microbial and viral community in exhaled air. Unfortunately, attempts to collect blow from small cetaceans have not been successful due to their swimming and diving behavior. In order to overcome these limitations, in this study we investigated the application of a specific sampling tool attached to

Objective Smoking has previously been associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but no study has reported on cotinine, an objective, biochemical measure of tobacco use. We aimed at testing the hypothesis that cotinine levels among healthy subjects are associated with an increased risk of developing IBD in later life. Design We analysed plasma cotinine and evaluated corresponding lifestyle questionnaires

The yeast Komagataella phaffii is widely used as a microbial host for heterologous protein production. However, molecular tools for this yeast are basically restricted to a few integrative and replicative plasmids. Four sequences that have recently been proposed as the K. phaffii centromeres could be used to develop a new class of mitotically stable vectors. In this work, we designed a color-based

Diabetes mellitus is a well-known risk factor for pancreatic cancer. We focused on hyperglycemia, a main feature of diabetes mellitus, and uncovered its effect on precancerous pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) progression. In vivo induction of hyperglycemia with 100 mg/kg streptozotocin in KrasLSL G12D Pdx1Cre (KP) mice promoted the PanIN formation and progression. Preconditioning with a

Resistin and resistin-like molecules are pleiotropic cytokines that are involved in inflammatory diseases. Our previous work suggested that resistin has the potential to be used as a biomarker and therapeutic target for human pulmonary arterial hypertension. However, data are limited on the distribution of resistin in healthy human organs. In this study, we used our newly developed anti-human resistin

Background Although respiratory distress is one of the major causes of neonatal morbidity and mortality throughout the globe, it is a particularly serious concern for nations like Ethiopia that have significant resource limitations. Additionally, few studies have looked at neonatal respiratory distress and its predictors in developing countries, and thus we sought to investigate this issue in neonates

Introduction Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are often under-recognized in the community. MCI/ADRD screening could offer benefits such as early treatment, research participation, lifestyle modification, and advanced care planning. To date, there are no clear guidelines regarding the benefits vs. harms of dementia screening or whether a dementia screening

Seafloor mapping to create bathymetric charts of the oceans is important for various applications. However, making high-resolution bathymetric charts requires measuring underwater depths at many points in sea areas, and thus, is time-consuming and costly. In this work, treating gridded bathymetric data as digital images, we employ the image-processing technique known as superresolution to enhance the

Thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) inhibits the activity of thioredoxin (TXN), leading to increased oxidative stress. Expression of the TXNIP gene is regulated by DNA methylation. However, no study has reported the influence of lifestyle factors on TXNIP DNA methylation. Our goal was to determine the association between smoking habits and TXNIP DNA methylation levels in a Japanese population.

To explore the molecular mechanism of the effect of Bacillus cereus PAS38 on the immunity of broilers, sixty 7-day-old broilers were divided into two groups with three replicates. The control group was fed with basal diet, and the treatment group was fed with basal diet containing Bacillus cereus PAS38 1×106 CFU/g. Thymus and bursa of fabricius were taken from two groups of broilers at the age of 42

Background Drug use during sex, ‘chemsex’, is common among men who have sex with men (MSM) and related to sexual and mental health harms. This study assessed associations between chemsex and a wide range of determinants among MSM visiting STI clinics to increase understanding of characteristics and beliefs of MSM practicing chemsex. Methods In 2018, 785 MSM were recruited at nine Dutch STI clinics;

Introduction Sleepiness is the main clinical expression of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome resulting from upper airway collapse. Recent studies have discussed the fact that the presence of T. gondii cysts in the brain and the resulting biochemical and immunological mechanisms could be linked to neurobehavioral disorders. The aim of the present study was to explore the potential impact of chronic

Modern psychological theories postulate that individual differences in prejudice are determined by social and ideological attitudes instead of personality. For example, the dual-process motivational (DPM) model argues that personality does not directly associate with prejudice when controlling for the attitudinal variables that capture the authoritarian-conservatism motivation and the dominance motivation

Pathogens pose a major risk to wild host populations, especially in the face of ongoing biodiversity declines. Beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) can affect most if not all members of one of the largest and most threatened bird orders world-wide, the Psittaciformes. Signs of disease can be severe and mortality rates high. Its broad host range makes it a risk to threatened species in particular,

Personality traits such as grit and self-control are important determinants of success in life outcomes. However, most measures of these traits, which rely on self-reports, might be biased when used for the purpose of evaluating education policies or interventions. Recent research has shown the potential of survey effort—in particular, item non-response and careless answering—as a proxy measure of

Reaction rates (fluxes) in a metabolic network can be analyzed using constraint-based modeling which imposes a steady state assumption on the system. In a deterministic formulation of the problem the steady state assumption has to be fulfilled exactly, and the observed fluxes are included in the model without accounting for experimental noise. One can relax the steady state constraint, and also include

Whether language information influences recognition of emotion from facial expressions remains the subject of debate. The current studies investigate how variations in emotion labels that are paired with expressions influences participants’ judgments of the emotion displayed. Static (Study 1) and dynamic (Study 2) facial expressions depicting eight emotion categories were paired with emotion labels

The Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima Bl.) was introduced into Japan about 100 years ago. Since then, a number of Chinese chestnut cultivars and Japanese–Chinese hybrid cultivars have been selected by farmers and plant breeders, but little information has been available about their origins and genetic relationships. A classification based on simple sequence repeat markers was conducted using 230

Aims This review aims to determine the prevalence of clinically manifested drug-drug interactions (DDIs) in hospitalized patients. Methods PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, and Lilacs databases were used to identify articles published before June 2019 that met specific inclusion criteria. The search strategy was developed using both controlled and uncontrolled vocabulary related to the following

This paper investigate the impact of leverage structure on stock price synchronicity. To better understand the mechanism of the impact of leverage, we break leverage into operating leverage and financing leverage. This breakdown reveals the impact of different component of leverage. Moreover, in this paper, we employ the quantile regression model to investigate the impact of leverage on different level

The goal of this study was to use liquid chromatography mass spectrometry to assess metabolic changes of two different diets in three distinct rat strains. Sprague-Dawley, Fischer 344, and Brown-Norway male rats were maintained on a high-fat, or regular diet for 24 weeks. Liver tissue was collected at 4, 12, and 24 weeks to assess global small molecule metabolite changes using high resolution accurate

Introduction The re-emergence of vector borne diseases affecting millions of people in recent years has drawn attention to arboviruses globally. Here, we report on the sero-prevalence of chikungunya virus (CHIKV), dengue virus (DENV), mayaro virus (MAYV) and zika virus (ZIKV) in a swamp community in Zambia. Methods We collected blood and saliva samples from residents of Lukanga swamps in 2016 during

Nontyphoidal Salmonella enterica (NTS) causes a substantial health burden to human populations in Canada and worldwide. Exposure sources and demographic factors vary by location and can therefore have a major impact on salmonellosis clustering. We evaluated major NTS serotypes: S. Enteritidis (n = 620), S. Typhimurium (n = 150), S. Thompson (n = 138), and S. Heidelberg (n = 136) reported in the city

Calculating forward and inverse kinematics for robotic agents is one of the most time-intensive tasks when controlling the robot movement in any environment. This calculation is then encoded to control the motors and validated in a simulator. The feedback produced by the simulation can be used to correct the code or to implement the code can be implemented directly in the robotic agent. However, the

Purpose While many tests and indices are available to identify glaucoma progression, using them in combinations may decrease overall specificity. The aim of this study was to develop a framework for assessing glaucoma progression using structural and functional indices jointly for a fixed specificity. Methods The study included 337 eyes of 207 patients with ocular hypertension or primary open-angle

Purpose To estimate the incidence rate of eye injuries (EI) requiring inpatient and outpatient treatment in Taiwan and compare the epidemiologic characteristics of EI (age, sex, treatment setting, seasonality, occupation, external cause, diagnosis, and surgery) in the years 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015. Methods We analyzed four random samples of 1,000,000 beneficiaries each from 2000, 2005, 2010, and

Background Adolescents in the Western Cape Province of South Africa had high force of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection (14% per annum) and high TB incidence (710 per 100,000 person–years) in 2005. We describe subsequent temporal changes in adolescent TB disease notification rates for the decade 2005–2015. Method We conducted an analysis of patient–level adolescent (age 10–19 years) TB disease

Introduction Informal waste recyclers contribute significantly to waste removal in South Africa. Waste recyclers face health hazards which are associated with handling and disposal of waste, a lack of personal protective wear and inaccessibility to occupational health care services. Consequently, accessing health care within the public health care sector is important for health outcomes in this population

Background Needle guides for ultrasound-guided internal jugular venous catheterization facilitate successful cannulation. The ability of a needle guide to prevent a posterior vein wall injury which may secondarily induce lethal complications, is unknown. Previous studies showed that a shallow angle of approach may reduce the incidence of posterior wall injuries. We developed a novel needle guide with

Methods of previous researches on green technology innovation will have difficulty in finite population. One solution is the use of stochastic evolutionary game dynamic-Moran process. In this paper we study stochastic dynamic games about green technology innovation with a two-stage free riding problem. Results illustrate the incentive and selection strength play positive roles in promoting participant

The brown planthopper (Nilapavata lugens: BPH) and whitebacked planthopper (Sogatella furcifera: WBPH) co-occur as the principal pests of rice in Asia. A review of previous studies suggests that the two species have similar temperature tolerances and similar temperature thresholds for development. However, the distribution and seasonality of WBPH suggest that its temperature optima for performance

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the most devastating fungal diseases affecting grain crops and Fusarium graminearum is the most aggressive causal species. Several evidences shown that stomatal closure is involved in the first line of defence against plant pathogens. However, there is very little evidence to show that photosynthetic parameters change in inoculated plants. The aim of the present

Introduction The emergence of endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) changed the approach to staging lung cancer. As a new method being incorporated, the use of EBUS may lead to a shift in clinical and costs outcomes. Objective The aim of this systematic review is to gather information to better understand the economic impact of implementing EBUS. Methods This review is reported according to the PRISMA statement

Objective Most women live to experience menopause and will spend 4–8 years transitioning from fertile age to full menstrual stop. Biologically, reproductive ageing is a continuous process, but by convention, it is defined categorically as pre-, peri- and postmenopause; categories that are sometimes supported by measurements of sex hormones in blood samples. We aimed to develop and validate a new tool

Sea barley Hordeum marinum is an important germplasm resource. However, the origin of this tetraploid H. marinum subsp. gussoneanum is still unclear, which has caused great perplexity to the exploration and utilization of germplasm resources. We used two single-copy nuclear genes, thioredoxin-like gene (TRX) and waxy1 gene encoding granule-bound starch synthase (WAXY1) to analyze 41 accessions of Hordeum

Refrigerated ready-to-eat (RTE) dips often have pH and water activity combinations conducive to the proliferation of foodborne pathogens, including Listeria monocytogenes. This study conducted product assessments of five refrigerated RTE dips: baba ghanoush, guacamole, hummus, pesto, and tahini, along with individual dip components including avocado, basil, chickpeas, cilantro, eggplant, garlic, and

Introduction High rates of pre-treatment loss to care among persons diagnosed with HIV persist. Linkage to care can be improved through active digitally-based surveillance. Currently, record-keeping for HIV diagnoses in South Africa is paper-based. Aggregated testing data are reported routinely, and only discordant findings result in a specimen being tested at a laboratory and digitised. The Western

Background and objectives Hospital readmissions are a frequent complication of pneumonia. Most data regarding readmissions are obtained from the United States, whereas few data are available from the European healthcare utilization (HCU) systems. In a large cohort of Italian patients with a previous hospitalization for pneumonia, our aim was to evaluate the incidence and predictors of early readmissions