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Aim: To assess the perception of the nursing profession in Armenia from the perspective of multiple stakeholders, including nurses and the general public. Background: Nurses' role perception is a complex phenomenon defined by multiple stakeholders. Methods: The assessment used a convergent parallel mixed‐methods design, with a dominant qualitative status. We conducted the qualitative phase through focus group discussions and in‐depth interviews with 235 people and collected quantitative data in a cross‐sectional telephone survey with 389 participants. Results: The nursing profession has been influenced by medical hierarchy and subordination, and none of the participants recognized nursing as an autonomous health care profession. The quantitative survey findings were largely consistent with the qualitative results. Our findings highlighted empathy and compassion as inherent qualities of nurses in Armenia. Conclusion: To change opinions about the nursing profession and highlight nurses' meaningful contribution to the provision of health care services, it is important to develop a national definition of nursing and introduce higher educational opportunities for nurses in Armenia. Implications for nursing management: The paper highlights the importance of quality education for preparing highly competent nurse managers who can become role models in promoting nurses' roles in health care systems and improving the professional and public image of nursing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leptospirosis is a bacterial zoonotic infection of worldwide occurrence. Bats, like other mammalian reservoirs, may be long‐term carriers that maintain endemicity of infection and shed viable leptospires in urine. Direct and/or indirect contact with these Leptospira shedders is the main risk factor as regards public health concern. However, knowledge about bat leptospirosis in the Palearctic Region, and in Europe in particular, is poor. We collected urine from 176 specimens of 11 bat species in the Czech Republic, Poland, Republic of Armenia and the Altai Region of Russia between 2014 and 2019. We extracted DNA from the urine samples to detect Leptospira spp. shedders using PCR amplification of the 16S rRNA and LipL32 genes. Four bat species (Barbastella barbastellus n = 1, Myotis bechsteinii n = 1, Myotis myotis n = 24 and Myotis nattereri n = 1) tested positive for Leptospira spp., with detected amplicons showing 100% genetic identity with pathogenic Leptospira interrogans. The site‐ and species‐specific prevalence range was 0%–24.1% and 0%–20%, respectively. All bats sampled in the Republic of Armenia and Russia were negative. Given the circulation of pathogenic leptospires in strictly protected Palearctic bat species and their populations, non‐invasive and non‐lethal sampling of urine for molecular Leptospira spp. detection is recommended as a suitable surveillance and monitoring strategy. Moreover, our results should raise awareness of this potential disease risk among health professionals, veterinarians, chiropterologists and wildlife rescue workers handling bats, as well as speleologists and persons cleaning premises following bat infestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our understanding of Parkinson's disease (PD) has significantly accelerated over the last few years, but predominant advances have been made in developed, Western countries. Little is known about PD in the Central Asian (CA) and Transcaucasian (TC) countries. Here, we review the clinical characteristics, treatments used, epidemiology, and genetics of PD in CA and TC countries via a methodological search in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases. For the acquisition of PD care-related data, the search was extended to the local web resources. Our findings showed that PD prevalence in the region is averaging 62 per 100,000 population. The mean age of onset is 56.4 ± 2.8 in females and 63.3 ± 3.5 in males. Large-scale national studies on PD prevalence from the region are currently lacking. A limited number of genetic studies with small cohorts and inconclusive results were identified. The G2019S LRRK2 mutation, the commonest mutation in PD worldwide, was found in 5.7% of patients with idiopathic PD and 17.6% of familial cases in 153 Uzbek patients. Our review highlighted systematic deficiencies in PD health care in the region including lacks of neurologists specializing in PD, delays in PD diagnosis, absence of specialized PD nurses and PD rehab services, limited access to PD medications and surgery, and the unavailability of PD infusion therapies. Overall, this article demonstrated the paucity of data on this common neurological disorder in CA and TC countries and identified a number of healthcare areas that require an urgent consideration. We conclude that well-designed large-scale epidemiological, genetic, and clinical studies are desperately needed in this region. Healthcare professionals, local and national institutions, and stakeholders must come together to address deficiencies in PD healthcare systems in CA and TC countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a serious chronic metabolic disorder. Various diseases are being treated with medicinal plants and that is because of the less side effects of the current therapy. The diversity of plants in Armenia is due to the singularity of natural environment. However, biochemical activity of these plants has not been studied well. Thus, the goal was to investigate biochemical activity and antihyperglycemic properties of Rumex obtusifolius L. in rabbits with hyperglycemia. The high content of total phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and tannins has been determined in this plant extract. Oral administration of ethanol extract showed significant effect on hyperglycemia, reducing fasting glucose levels (57.3%, p<0.05), improving glucose tolerance, and increasing liver glycogen content (1.5-fold, p<0.01) compared to the hyperglycemic control group. Furthermore, ethanol extract of R. obtusifolius reduced total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and vice versa increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and also decreased liver enzymes levels (alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase) compared with untreated group. These findings suggest that R. obtusifolius may have beneficial effects and should be supplement, as herbal remedy in the treatment of DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]