All Articles

Biochemical and Hematological Markers of Iron Status of the Populations in the Lekie Division of Cameroon

Abstract:

Iron deficiency is a major public health problem worldwide. It affects a significant proportion of the population, and is responsible for around 50% of anemia cases worldwide. Cameroon in general and Lekie Division in particular, is very highlyaffected by this problem. However, early detection of the problem can prevent the fatalities associated to it. The objective of this study was to provide up-to-date, detailed data on the markers of iron status in these populations, so that treatment can be better targeted. A two-month cross-sectional study was conducted in the Lekie Division in collaboration with local health centres in both urban and rural areas. The study sample consisted of 361 participants of all age groups and sexes. A questionnaire was issued to obtain information of the participants socio-demographic status, then 3 to 5ml of blood were collected and a number of markers of the participants ir...

Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management of Antarctic Krill (Euphausia superba) to Support Baleen Whales and other Predators Production Adapted for Potential Climate Change Effects

Abstract:

Antarctic krill is an important component of the zooplankton production in the Southern Ocean and is a major food source for baleen whales. The role of commercial fishing and predation by whales on Krill abundance has been investigated here using the innovative ecosystem-based fishery management, EBFM which maintains the krill to whale food web ecosystem stability. The literature indicates the Krill fishery may have been overfished, so it was reduced to the current annual upper limit of 0.62 million tonnes for support other predators of krill, such as seals, penguins and flying sea birds. However, recent literature suggests a moderate reduction in krill catch in the Antarctic Peninsula area due to its importance for whale migration to temperate areas. The Peninsula area catch was estimated to be reduced by about 10% due to additional concerns about climate change effects on krill abundance in the Southern Ocean, r...

Comparative Study of Deep Learning Techniques for Detecting Corn Plant Leaf Diseases Using Transfer Learning

Abstract:

Plant leaf diseases pose significant threats to crop yield and agricultural sustainability, making early and accurate detection crucial for effective disease management. In current years, deep neural network (DNN) techniques have shown remarkable potential in the field of image classification, including plant disease detection. The study aims to investigate the performance of two popular deep learning architectures, namely, VGG16 and InceptionResNetV2, for the detection of tomato plant leaf disease. The proposed methodology involves acquiring a diverse dataset comprising high-resolution images of healthy and diseased leaves from the target crops. Preprocessing techniques such as image augmentation and normalization are applied to enhance the generalization ability of the models and mitigate overfitting. Transfer learning is employed to initialize the deep learning architectures with weights pre-trained on large-scale image datasets to ac...

Antibiotic-Resistant Urinary Tract Infection in a Bahamian Woman: A Case Report

Abstract:

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is becoming a major public health challenge in the Bahamas. Indiscriminate use of antibiotics by medical practitioners is a major contributor to this problem. We describe a 53-year-old woman who presented with symptoms of a urinary tract infection. Empiric treatment with first- and second-line antibiotics, namely trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and ciprofloxacin, respectively, were ineffective in clearing the infection. After culture and sensitivity testing via minimum inhibitory concentration analysis, nitrofurantoin proved to be the only effective oral antibiotic.

Analyzing Relationships Between Adolescents’ Cultural Identity and Narrativization in East Asian Music

Abstract:

The formation of narratives while listening to music is seen across cultures, but narrative perception in Asian Americans who have bicultural identities is not well understood. This study analyzed the potential effect of cultural identity on adolescents’ ability to form narratives with East Asian music. Two groups of adolescents (n=42), Asian American (n=28) and Non-Asian American (n=14), listened to three music excerpts with varying degrees of Asian and Western influences. The most Asian-influenced excerpt was a Gugak Korean traditional piece titled T’ungae sanjo, performed on traditional Korean folk instruments and creating a distinctly East Asian sound. The Mixed excerpt, containing both Western and Asian influences, was from Tan Dun’s Eight Memories in Watercolor. It contained a Chinese folk melody while being performed on ...

Malaria: A Driving Force to the Emergence and the Global Spread of Antibiotics Resistance

Abstract:

Malaria and bacteraemia are significant public health concerns and economic threats. In Africa, the intensity for simultaneous transmission and co-infection of Plasmodium spp and other bacteria pathogens are extremely high. It is believed that malaria suppress the immune system and enable the translocation of bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract to other cellular compartments in the body. Some of the factors that contributed to the co-emergence of these pathogens are poor access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), poor infection control measures, inefficient health care systems. In addition, the similarities in the clinical signs and symptoms of these febrile diseases and the fact that the etiologic diagnostic testing can be complex, costly, and limited are the reasons why clinicians in resource-constrained setting often prescribe antibiotics empirically prior to or without laboratory testing to prevent severe outcome...

Health Practitioner Burnout, Safety Implications, and Programmatic Fixes: A Systematic Literature Review of Current Literature Reviews—200 Proof*

Abstract:

High rates of workplace psychological stress and burnout have been chronic among Healthcare Practitioners. Research shows that Healthcare Practitioner psychological stress / burnout is related to poor quality of care and a high probability of making medical errors and mishaps resulting in harm to patients and even workers themselves. In response, relatively impactful programs have been developed to address Practitioner burnout. To derive a better understanding of the subject and inform best practices and policy regarding the problem and its fixes, this article reports findings from a novel study of a systematic (PRISMA-based) literature review of current (circa ~10 years <) literature reviews; or a distillation of reviews already at 100 proof then undergoing a further distillation into a review of 200 proof.* This study employed a grounded theoretic qualitative methodology to iteratively generate and enumerate descriptive themes from the study’...

Intersecting Epidemics: Intimate Partner Violence, Stress, and Diabetes Among South Asian Women in the United States

Abstract:

South Asian women in the United States face disproportionate health challenges, including higher rates of intimate partner violence as well as higher rates of Type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes compared to other racial and ethnic groups. This cross-sectional study examines the association between intimate partner violence (psychological, physical, and sexual) and the diagnosis of gestational diabetes and type 2 diabetes. A web-based survey recruited 2,634 South Asian women in the U.S., collecting data on socio-demographics, intimate partner violence experiences, stress levels, and diabetes diagnosis. Logistic regression models adjusted for significant sociodemographic factors revealed that women with a history of intimate partner violence were 5.82 significantly more likely to report a type 2 diabetes diagnosis and 3.91 more likely to report a gestational diabetes diagnosis. Furthermore, stress as measured by the perceived stress scale, was also ...

Association of Body Mass Index (BMI) and Severity of COVID- 19: A Multicentric Study from Maharashtra, India

Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the global research efforts to identify the risk factors which would lead to severe COVID-19 disease. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Plasma TREM2 Levels, Alcohol Consumption, and Liver Enzymes in Patients with Alcohol use Disorder: A Sex-Dependent Relationship Involving MS4A6A Genetic Polymorphism

Abstract:

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is the most prevalent substance use disorder. Excessive alcohol consumption leads to a range of health issues. We set out to identify inflammatory markers linked to alcohol consumption, which might ultimately offer novel insight into genetic underpinnings and have implications for alcohol-associated disease. Alcohol consumption and blood-based multi-omics data were collected by The Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Treatment of Alcohol Dependence study. Plasma samples from patients with AUD were used for proteomics analysis using the OLINK “Explore Inflammation” panel (n=410). Liver enzymes were also measured. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed to explore the relationship between genetic variants and plasma TREM2 levels. Our findings show thatplasma triggering receptor expressed on ...