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The empowerment dimension of global development has emerged as a catalyst in bridging the gap between disability issues and policy affairs. Within this context, agenda setting assumes a pivotal role as an essential practice in public policy, influencing the fabric of societal situations and shaping a wide array of public issues, agendas, and discourses. Drawing upon an instrumental case study approach, our research employs 23 semi-structured interviews to delve into the complexities of actors’ agenda setting processes. More specifically, we examine the challenges faced by individuals in leadership and managerial positions within the disability-affiliated realm, as they strive to advance their agendas for the formulation of local disability regulations in East Java, Indonesia. As our exploration unfolds, we uncover four stumbling trajectories of these actors during their agenda-setting process, where these challenges reflect the ‘human’ power to progress from struggles to success. These findings not only deepen our understanding of agenda setting in the Indonesian context but also provide valuable insights for the development of context-specific typologies and attributes related to agenda setting in this distinctive setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salam buying and selling is an agreement to buy and sell ordered goods between a seller and a buyer with the specifications, price and order time agreed at the beginning of the contract, and payment is made in full in advance. This research aims to determine the implementation of the salam contract in the practice of buying and selling red bricks in Sumberingin Kulon village.. The approach used is a qualitative approach with descriptive methods. Data collection techniques in this research used observation, interviews and documentation. The results of this research show that the implementation of the greeting contract has been implemented in the practice of buying and selling red bricks in Sumberingin Kulon village. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirteen bamboo species are reported to be in commercial use in Malaysia. However, Buluh madu (Gigantochloa albociliata) did not make to the list. As a species, G. albociliata is cultivated for its delicious bamboo shoot and is demonstrated to possess great potential to produce commercialised products such as laminated bamboo panel. Unlike common bamboo, which has hollow cylindrical culms, G. albociliata has thick culms at the base, with smaller hollow cavities at the top portion. Therefore, it can be easily converted into high-thickness strips, thus improving the processing efficiency of laminated bamboo. To validate this theory, the anatomical, chemical, physical, and mechanical properties of G. albociliata were evaluated. The round bamboo and strips from the top and bottom sections of the bamboo stem were tested. It was found that G. albociliata has a vascular bundle type similar to that of the Gigantochloa genus bamboo. The fibre in G. albociliata is long and strong. The top section of bamboo has longer fibres, a higher density, and a higher specific gravity than the bottom section. As a result, bamboo from the top section has greater bending strength than bamboo from the bottom section. The G. albociliata species was discovered to have high mechanical strength, dimensional stability, and good wettability, making it an ideal material for laminated products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) recovery from microbial cells relies on either solvent extraction (usually using halogenated solvents) and/or digestion of the non-PHA cell mass (NPCM) by the action of chemicals (e.g., hypochlorite) that raise environmental and health hazards. A greener alternative for PHA recovery, subcritical water (SBW), was evaluated as a method for the dissolution of the NPCM of a mixed microbial culture (MMC) biomass. A temperature of 150 °C was found as a compromise to reach NPCM solubilization while mostly preventing the degradation of the biopolymer during the procedure. Such conditions yielded a polymer with a purity of 77%. PHA purity was further improved by combining the SBW treatment with hypochlorite digestion, in which a significantly lower hypochlorite concentration (0.1%, v/v) was sufficient to achieve an overall polymer purity of 80%. During the procedure, the biopolymer suffered some depolymerization, as evidenced by the lower molecular weight (Mw) and higher polydispersity of the extracted samples. Although such changes in the biopolymer's molecular mass distribution impact its mechanical properties, impairing its utilization in most conventional plastic uses, the obtained PHA can find use in several applications, for example as additives or for the preparation of graft or block co-polymers, in which low-Mw oligomers are sought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 33 year old obstetric patient with mild fever of undiagnosed etiology underwent emergency caesarean section under general anesthesia. She had platelet count of 98,000 per microliter and increased APTT of 37.8 s at the time of surgery. After uneventful anesthetic induction and delivery of fetus, slow and oozing type of bleeding led to massive hemorrhage. Patient remained vitally stable throughout perioperative phase and was extubated. Next day, patient's dengue IgM antibody was reported positive. Neonate was well and his dengue test was negative. Pregnant women are at high risk of developing severe complications of dengue fever with unclear mechanisms related to impaired coagulation. Regional anesthesia may not have safe outcome due to dengue infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: There has been a concern regarding maternal hyperthermia with labor epidural in developed countries. This study aimed to determine the frequency of rise in maternal temperature after labor epidural placement in a tertiary care hospital of a developing country. Materials and Methods: After approval from the institutional ethics review committee and informed consent, this observational cohort study was conducted on 494 nulliparous women fulfilling the inclusion criteria and requesting labor epidural. Maternal temperature was recorded by a standardized method soon before institution of labor epidural (baseline temperature) and then hourly after its placement for up to 6 h maximum or till delivery. Neonatal outcome was observed by recording Apgar score at 1 and 5 min and intensive care admissions. Results: There was a steady rise of mean temperature from baseline (36.26 ± 0.31), each hour after institution of labor epidural. The percentage of patients showing a rise in temperature increased each hour from 45% in first hour to more than 56% in the sixth hour. The temperature of ≥37.5°C was considered as hyperthermia and was observed in four patients (0.81%). The median temperature difference was not statistically significant within time point (P > 0.05). Apgar scores of newborns born to mothers with hyperthermia were 8 at 1 min and 9 at 5 min with no intensive care admissions. Conclusion: Frequency of maternal hyperthermia was found to be low compared to the incidence reported from developed countries, most probably due to difference in obstetric practice and patients demographics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Stunting is a major health problem in developing countries. Animal-based supplements can increase the height of children with stunting. This study was aimed at determining the effect of eel biscuit supplementation on increase in the height of children with stunting aged 36–60 months. Methods. A pilot study with pretest-post-test design. The study was conducted in two villages in the Priangan Region, West Java Province, Indonesia. The participants were divided into two groups: intervention group (10 supplemented eel biscuit pieces) and control group (biscuits from the government's biscuit programme). A total of 56 children aged 36–60 months with the height-for-age z-score of <−2 SD were recruited voluntarily for sampling. Results. The initial height-for-age z-score of the intervention group was −3.45 SD and that of the control group was −3.11 SD. After 3 months of supplemented eel biscuit consumption, the height-for-age z-score of the intervention group changed to −2.52 SD and that of the control group changed to −2.51 SD. The average shift of the height-for-age z-score after 3 months of supplemented eel biscuit consumption was 0.93 SD in the intervention group and 0.6 SD in the control group. There were significant differences in delta and percent increase in the height-for-age z-score between both groups. Conclusions. Consumption of supplemented eel biscuits for 3 months increased the height-for-age z-score of children with stunting aged 36–60 months by 0.93 SD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the effect of intraoperative factors while using technique of anaesthesia and use of specific opioids on patients' pain score and need for first rescue analgesia in the post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) after caesarean section (CS). Patients and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study on CS patients with 6 months collected data that include patients' demographics, surgical incision, duration of surgery, technique of anaesthesia, intraoperative use of specific opioids/co-analgesia, numerical rating score (NRS) and time of first rescue analgesia in the PACU. Results: Among 334 patients enrolled in the study, 7.2–13.3% had NRS >4 and required first rescue analgesia within the first hour in the PACU with 28 (8.4%) patients at time zero and 20 (6.0%) patients at 30 min in the PACU. There was no statistically significant difference among patients having NRS >4 from those having ≤4 in terms of the type of incision, American Society of Anaesthesiologist grading and duration of surgery. A statistically significant (P-value < 0.01) low pain scores in the initial 30 min in the PACU was observed in patients having surgery under regional anaesthesia (RA) compared to general anaesthesia (GA) and in patients receiving intraoperative intravenous (IV) morphine compared to nalbuphine or tramadol when operated under GA. Conclusion: The need for rescue analgesia during the initial 30 min in the PACU was less in patients undergoing CS under RA or receiving IV morphine under GA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the direct influence of the level of development of Third Party Funds (DPK) and Return On Assets (ROA) on Musyarakah Financing at Bank BCA Syariah for the 2018- 2022 period. This research uses quantitative data types. The data in this study are secondary data. Secondary data is in the form of financial statements at Bank BCA Syariah published in 2018- 2022. This study used secondary data where the data was obtained by non-participant observation. The results showed that the variables that affect musharakah financing are based on the test table t the level of development of Third Party Funds (DPK) X1) on Musyarakah Financing (Y) where the significance value (Sig) X1 is 0.001 < 0.05 and the t value is calculated 28,795 > t table 4,303, it can be concluded that H1 is accepted. Furthermore, the Level of Development of Third Party Funds (X1) and Return On Assets (X2) simultaneously on Musharakah Financing (Y) where based on the F test table the significance value (Sig) for the effect of the Level of Development of Third Party Funds (X1) and Return On Assets (X2) simultaneously on Musharakah Financing (Y) is 0.002 < 0.05 and the value of F is calculated at 511,539 > F table 9.55, it can be concluded that H3 is accepted. While the variable that does not affect musharakah financing is Return On Assets (X2) to Musharakah Financing (Y) where based on the test table t significance value (Sig) Return On Assets (X2) of 0.452 > 0.05 and t value calculated 0.926 < t table 4.303, it can be concluded that H2 is rejected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Clinical practice guidelines are important tools to promote evidence-based clinical care, but not all countries have the capacity or infrastructure to develop these in-house. The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology has recently developed guidelines for the prevention, diagnosis and management of food allergy and the management of anaphylaxis. In order to inform dissemination, adaptation and implementation plans, we sought to identify countries that have/do not have national guidelines for food allergy and anaphylaxis. Methods: Two reviewers independently searched PubMed to identify countries with guidelines for food allergy and/or anaphylaxis from the inception of this database to December 2016. This was supplemented with a search of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's National Guideline Clearinghouse in order to identify any additional guidelines that may not have been reported in the peer-reviewed literature. Data were descriptively and narratively synthesized. Results: Overall, 5/193 (3%) of countries had at least one guideline for food allergy or anaphylaxis. We found that one (1%) country had a national guideline for the prevention of food allergy, three (2%) countries had a guideline for the diagnosis of food allergy and three (2%) countries had a guideline for the management of food allergy. Three (2%) countries had an anaphylaxis guideline. Conclusions: This study concludes that the overwhelming majority of countries do not have any national clinical practice guidelines for food allergy or anaphylaxis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the state of Brunei Darussalam's economy amid the low oil prices in 2016, in which topics discussed include expectations of a better economic growth in 2017, drivers that could steer economic growth and diversification like infrastructure investments and foreign direct investment, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership as one of the keys to the country's economic diversification initiatives.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the significance of students' feedback on improving teachers' performance. METHODS: The students' feedback on teachers' performance was analyzed for 38 faculty members from 2011 to 2014 including feedbacks from four semesters. The means and standard deviations were used to determine the trend in the overall performance of the teachers. One sample t-test was used to determine the significance of these trends in the teachers' performance for same semester means, whereas the paired t-test was applied for comparison of means between the semesters. RESULTS: The analysis showed an overall improvement in the performance of teachers analyzed for the three out of four semesters while there was a slight decline in the fourth semester from 89.9±5.0 to 86.6±6.1, at 95% confidence level. However, the dip does not cross over the benchmark of 70% set by the Quality Enhancement Cell of the University. CONCLUSION: The teachers' evaluation processes have shown a positive impact in their overall performance and are effective mechanism for keeping the teachers and students to work for the collective objective towards their learning. The reasons for the slight decline in the fourth semester have remained unearthed in the current study and need to be explored through qualitative studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work focused on the development of porous scaffolds based on biocomposites comprising two biodegradable and biocompatible biopolymers: a terpolyester, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBHVHHx), and the bacterial polysaccharide FucoPol. The PHBHVHHx terpolymer was composed of 3-hydroxybutyrate (55 wt%), 3-hydroxyvalerate (21 wt%), and 3-hydroxyhexanoate (24 wt%). This hydrophobic polyester has low crystallinity and can form elastic and flexible films. Fucopol is a fucose-containing water-soluble polysaccharide that forms viscous solutions with shear thinning behavior and has demonstrated emulsion-forming and stabilizing capacity and wound healing ability. Emulsion-templating was used to fabricate PHA-based porous structures in which FucoPol acted as a bioemulsifier. Compared with the scaffolds obtained from emulsions with only water, the use of FucoPol aqueous solutions resulted in structures with improved mechanical properties, namely higher tensile strength (4.4 MPa) and a higher Young's Modulus (85 MPa), together with an elongation at break of 52%. These features, together with the scaffolds' high porosity and pore interconnectivity, suggest their potential to sustain cell adhesion and proliferation, which is further supported by FucoPol's demonstrated wound healing ability. Therefore, the developed PHBHVHHx:FucoPol scaffolds arise as innovative porous bioactive structures with great potential for use in tissue engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intercession (shafā'ah), the act of an intercessor when he asks God for forgiveness and help on behalf of sinners, is of two types: generative and legislative. It is a principle found in many Islamic schools of thought, although questioned by some. This paper analyzes and explains the verses of the Qur'an regarding intercession and replies to several objections raised by its opposers. Qur'anic verses on intercession do not contradict one another; rather, they emphasize that intercession inherently belongs to God, and some special servants of God are entitled to intercede by His permission. This paper also refers to Sunni and Shi'a hadiths in support of the principle of intercession and ends by highlighting some of its positive outcomes, such as preventing sinners from despairing of Allah's mercy and promoting a stronger relationship with those who can intercede. Based on Qur'anic verses and hadiths, those who have been granted permission by Allah to intercede include prophets, angels, martyrs, and religious scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poly(hydroxyalkanoates) (PHAs) with different material properties, namely, the homopolymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), P(3HB), and the copolymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate, P(3HB-co-3HV), with a 3HV of 25 wt.%, were used for the preparation of porous biopolymeric scaffolds. Solvent casting with particulate leaching (SCPL) and emulsion templating were evaluated to process these biopolymers in porous scaffolds. SCPL scaffolds were highly hydrophilic (>170% swelling in water) but fragile, probably due to the increase of the polymer's polydispersity index and its high porosity (>50%). In contrast, the emulsion templating technique resulted in scaffolds with a good compromise between porosity (27–49% porosity) and hydrophilicity (>30% water swelling) and without impairing their mechanical properties (3.18–3.35 MPa tensile strength and 0.07–0.11 MPa Young's Modulus). These specifications are in the same range compared to other polymer-based scaffolds developed for tissue engineering. P(3HB-co-3HV) displayed the best overall properties, namely, lower crystallinity (11.3%) and higher flexibility (14.8% elongation at break. Our findings highlight the potency of our natural biopolyesters for the future development of novel porous scaffolds in tissue engineering, thanks also to their safety and biodegradability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poly(hydroxyalkanoates) (PHAs) with differing material properties, namely, the homopolymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), P(3HB), the copolymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate), P(3HB-co-3HV), with a 3HV content of 25 wt.% and a medium chain length PHA, and mcl-PHA, mainly composed of 3-hydroxydecanoate, were studied as scaffolding material for cell culture. P(3HB) and P(3HB-co-3HV) were individually spun into fibers, as well as blends of the mcl-PHA with each of the scl-PHAs. An overall biopolymer concentration of 4 wt.% was used to prepare the electrospinning solutions, using chloroform as the solvent. A stable electrospinning process and good quality fibers were obtained for a solution flow rate of 0.5 mL h−1, a needle tip collector distance of 20 cm and a voltage of 12 kV for P(3HB) and P(3HB-co-3HV) solutions, while for the mcl-PHA the distance was increased to 25 cm and the voltage to 15 kV. The scaffolds' hydrophilicity was significantly increased under exposure to oxygen plasma as a surface treatment. Complete wetting was obtained for the oxygen plasma treated scaffolds and the water uptake degree increased in all treated scaffolds. The biopolymers crystallinity was not affected by the electrospinning process, while their treatment with oxygen plasma decreased their crystalline fraction. Human dermal fibroblasts were able to adhere and proliferate within the electrospun PHA-based scaffolds. The P(3HB-co-3HV): mcl-PHA oxygen plasma treated scaffold highlighted the most promising results with a cell adhesion rate of 40 ± 8%, compared to 14 ± 4% for the commercial oxygen plasma treated polystyrene scaffold AlvetexTM. Scaffolds based on P(3HB-co-3HV): mcl-PHA blends produced by electrospinning and submitted to oxygen plasma exposure are therefore promising biomaterials for the development of scaffolds for tissue engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the business patterns that is currently very widespread is a business with an MLM (Multi Level Marketing) system which is one of the branches of direct selling. The first MLM concept was initiated by NUTRILITE, a United States company in 1939. Currently worldwide MLM has reached the number is around 10,000, while in Indonesia it reaches around 1500. Based on the information we can get on the internet, every day 10 new millionaires appear because they are successful in running an MLM business, as well as in Malaysia. This system develops its network prioritizing width. The more downlines, the greater the bonus. This system allows downlines to exceed their uplines. Member bonuses at the beginning of their careers are small, so companies like this usually rely on recruiting bonuses. This type of research is field research, namely research whose object is about the symptoms or events that occur in community groups. So this research can also be called a case study or case study with a qualitative descriptive approach. The method used is qualitative research, namely qualitative researchers believe that truth is dynamic and can be found only through the study of people through their interactions with their social situations. The HNI products found in the Batang Hari Distribution Center are placed in glass windows in general and are similar to shops in general. The products traded in the form of herbal products, both products for treatment, beauty or nutritional and daily products. The membership procedure and contract agreement for the International Halal Network (HNI) company branch of Muara Bulian Subdistrict, Batanghari Regency, is that before someone becomes an official HNI agent, he must register first so that when making purchases he gets special prices and bonuses when selling to consumers according to what has been stated. set by the International Halal Network Company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biosurfactants synthesized by microorganisms represent safe and sustainable alternatives to the use of synthetic surfactants, due to their lower toxicity, better biodegradability and biocompatibility, and their production from low-cost feedstocks. In line with this, the present study describes the physical, chemical, and functional characterization of the biopolymer secreted by the bacterium Burkholderia thailandensis DSM 13276, envisaging its validation as a biosurfactant. The biopolymer was found to be a glycolipopeptide with carbohydrate and protein contents of 33.1 ± 6.4% and 23.0 ± 3.2%, respectively. Galactose, glucose, rhamnose, mannose, and glucuronic acid were detected in the carbohydrate moiety at a relative molar ratio of 4:3:2:2:1. It is a high-molecular-weight biopolymer (1.0 × 107 Da) with low polydispersity (1.66), and forms aqueous solutions with shear-thinning behavior, which remained after autoclaving. The biopolymer has demonstrated a good emulsion-stabilizing capacity towards different hydrophobic compounds, namely, benzene, almond oil, and sunflower oil. The emulsions prepared with the biosurfactant, as well as with its autoclaved solution, displayed high emulsification activity (>90% and ~50%, respectively). Moreover, the almond and sunflower oil emulsions stabilized with the biosurfactant were stable for up to 4 weeks, which further supports the potential of this novel biopolymer for utilization as a natural bioemulsifier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The exploration of cancer vaccines has yielded a multitude of studies, resulting in a diverse collection of information. The heterogeneity of cancer vaccine data significantly impedes effective integration and analysis. While CanVaxKB serves as a pioneering database for over 670 manually annotated cancer vaccines, it is important to distinguish that a database, on its own, does not offer the structured relationships and standardized definitions found in an ontology. Recognizing this, we expanded the Vaccine Ontology (VO) to include those cancer vaccines present in CanVaxKB that were not initially covered, enhancing VO's capacity to systematically define and interrelate cancer vaccines. Results: An ontology design pattern (ODP) was first developed and applied to semantically represent various cancer vaccines, capturing their associated entities and relations. By applying the ODP, we generated a cancer vaccine template in a tabular format and converted it into the RDF/OWL format for generation of cancer vaccine terms in the VO. '12MP vaccine' was used as an example of cancer vaccines to demonstrate the application of the ODP. VO also reuses reference ontology terms to represent entities such as cancer diseases and vaccine hosts. Description Logic (DL) and SPARQL query scripts were developed and used to query for cancer vaccines based on different vaccine's features and to demonstrate the versatility of the VO representation. Additionally, ontological modeling was applied to illustrate cancer vaccine related concepts and studies for in-depth cancer vaccine analysis. A cancer vaccine-specific VO view, referred to as "CVO," was generated, and it contains 928 classes including 704 cancer vaccines. The CVO OWL file is publicly available on: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/vo/cvo.owl, for sharing and applications. Conclusion: To facilitate the standardization, integration, and analysis of cancer vaccine data, we expanded the Vaccine Ontology (VO) to systematically model and represent cancer vaccines. We also developed a pipeline to automate the inclusion of cancer vaccines and associated terms in the VO. This not only enriches the data's standardization and integration, but also leverages ontological modeling to deepen the analysis of cancer vaccine information, maximizing benefits for researchers and clinicians. Availability: The VO-cancer GitHub website is: https://github.com/vaccineontology/VO/tree/master/CVO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Indonesian Government launched chronic disease management program (PROLANIS) with the aim of improving clinical outcomes and preventing disease complications of patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the overwhelmed healthcare system shifted resources away from non-communicable diseases in the attempt to mitigate it. Thus, the implementation of PROLANIS during the COVID-19 pandemic might not be as optimal as before the pandemic era, leading to worse clinical outcomes. This pilot study aims to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on PROLANIS in rural areas by analyzing the changes of metabolic control and renal function parameters. Methods: This study used data from three PROLANIS groups report in rural areas in East Java Province, Indonesia. Study population was PROLANIS participants who came for six-month-evaluation in December 2019 (T0), June 2020 (T1), and December 2020 (T2). Evaluated metabolic control parameters were body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipid, low-density lipid, and triglyceride (TG), whereas evaluated renal function parameters were blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, and urinary albumin. Independent t-test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were used for statistical analyses. p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Among 52 PROLANIS participants included in the analyses, four metabolic control parameters (BMI, blood pressure, TC, and TG) and all renal function parameters significantly worsened right after the pandemic started but improved 6 months afterwards. Meanwhile, HbA1C continuously worsened throughout the study period, albeit statistically insignificant. Conclusions: The metabolic control and renal function parameters in our study population deteriorates especially in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high mortality and morbidity rates of malaria remains to be a global problem, particularly in tropical regions. Cerebral malaria, the leading cause of death, possesses a complex pathogenesis involving host immune and parasite interactions. Lately, according to the gut-brain axis concept, the gut microbiota was identified to protect the host against systemic pathogen infection through the modulation of immune signaling pathways. In this study, we aimed to explore the effect of probiotic supplementation toward neurological outcomes of cerebral malaria in vivo. Twenty-eight male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into 5 groups after 2 weeks acclimatization period. All groups except the negative control were given oral probiotic supplementation with either Lactobacillus casei at 109 colony forming unit/100 µL (CFU/100 µL), Bifidobacterium longum at 109 CFU/100 µL, or the combination of each at 5x108 CFU/100 µL for five days before to six days after Plasmodium berghei infection. Neurological manifestations were recorded by using the SmithKline, Harwell, Imperial College, Royal Hospital, Phenotype Assessment (SHIRPA) score. The data was analyzed by using One-way ANOVA and post-hoc LSD. The results showed that there were significant differences of motor behavior (P < 0.01), muscle tone (P < 0.01), reflex and sensory (P < 0.05), and neuropsychiatric state (P < 0.05) between the control group and that receiving combination of L. casei and B. longum. The results suggested that probiotic supplementation showed promising effects in improving the neurological manifestations during cerebral malaria. Further studies are required to explicate the pathways involved in the immunological interplay. In the future, it is propitious that the mortalities by cerebral malaria could be mitigated through the optimal use of probiotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mucosal immune system contributes for the largest component of the tissue immune system due to its massive surface area and constant exposure to the microbiota. The gut microbiota comprises a complex micro‐ecosystem in the intestine and plays a major role in regulating innate and adaptive immunity. Several studies revealed that infectious diseases involve bidirectional interactions in the gut microenvironment, including changes in the gut microbiota composition. During Plasmodium infection, an increase of pro‐inflammatory cells in the lamina propria and a shift in the composition of the gut microbiota contribute to intestinal ecosystem dysbiosis. Although the mechanisms of this dysbiosis is still uncertain, it is thought to be associated with the sequestration of infected red blood cells in the intestinal microvascular system, leading to endothelial villous disruption, and thus activating effector immune cells scattered in the intestinal epithelium and lamina propria. This review provides information on this conjoint interaction which will be beneficial to modulate the host immune response in malaria through manipulation of the gut microbiota composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successive episodes of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection represent a unique natural rechallenge experiment to define correlates of long-term protective immunity and inform vaccine development. We applied a systems immunology approach to characterize longitudinal changes in the peripheral blood transcriptomic signatures in eight subjects who spontaneously resolved two successive HCV infections. Furthermore, we compared these signatures with those induced by an HCV T cell-based vaccine regimen. We identified a plasma cell transcriptomic signature during early acute HCV reinfection. This signature was absent in primary infection and following HCV vaccine boost. Spontaneous resolution of HCV reinfection was associated with rapid expansion of glycoprotein E2-specifc memory B cells in three subjects and transient increase in E2-specific neutralizing antibodies in six subjects. Concurrently, there was an increase in the breadth and magnitude of HCV-specific T cells in 7 out of 8 subjects. These results suggest a cooperative role for both antibodies and T cells in clearance of HCV reinfection and support the development of next generation HCV vaccines targeting these two arms of the immune system. (175 words) Author summary: In this study we examined the memory immune response against hepatitis C virus (HCV) upon re-exposure and reinfection followed by spontaneous clearance. This represents a model to define the key immune signatures that should be elicited by a vaccine for long-term protective immunity. We observed that antibodies as well as white blood cells (lymphocyte) responses were induced in the majority of the subjects studied suggesting their cooperative role in protection against HCV. These data also suggest that new vaccines against HCV should combine these two arms of the immune system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The current COVID-19 pandemic and the previous SARS/MERS outbreaks of 2003 and 2012 have resulted in a series of major global public health crises. We argue that in the interest of developing effective and safe vaccines and drugs and to better understand coronaviruses and associated disease mechenisms it is necessary to integrate the large and exponentially growing body of heterogeneous coronavirus data. Ontologies play an important role in standard-based knowledge and data representation, integration, sharing, and analysis. Accordingly, we initiated the development of the community-based Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology (CIDO) in early 2020. Results: As an Open Biomedical Ontology (OBO) library ontology, CIDO is open source and interoperable with other existing OBO ontologies. CIDO is aligned with the Basic Formal Ontology and Viral Infectious Disease Ontology. CIDO has imported terms from over 30 OBO ontologies. For example, CIDO imports all SARS-CoV-2 protein terms from the Protein Ontology, COVID-19-related phenotype terms from the Human Phenotype Ontology, and over 100 COVID-19 terms for vaccines (both authorized and in clinical trial) from the Vaccine Ontology. CIDO systematically represents variants of SARS-CoV-2 viruses and over 300 amino acid substitutions therein, along with over 300 diagnostic kits and methods. CIDO also describes hundreds of host-coronavirus protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and the drugs that target proteins in these PPIs. CIDO has been used to model COVID-19 related phenomena in areas such as epidemiology. The scope of CIDO was evaluated by visual analysis supported by a summarization network method. CIDO has been used in various applications such as term standardization, inference, natural language processing (NLP) and clinical data integration. We have applied the amino acid variant knowledge present in CIDO to analyze differences between SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Omicron variants. CIDO's integrative host-coronavirus PPIs and drug-target knowledge has also been used to support drug repurposing for COVID-19 treatment. Conclusion: CIDO represents entities and relations in the domain of coronavirus diseases with a special focus on COVID-19. It supports shared knowledge representation, data and metadata standardization and integration, and has been used in a range of applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyphenols are the secondary metabolites synthesized by the plants as a part of defense machinery. Owing to their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancerous, antineoplastic, and immunomodulatory effects, natural polyphenols have been used for a long time to prevent and treat a variety of diseases. As a result, these phytochemicals may be able to act as therapeutic agents in treating cancer and cardiovascular and neurological disorders. The limited bioavailability of polyphenolic molecules is one issue with their utilization. For the purpose of increasing the bioavailability of these chemicals, many formulation forms have been developed, with nanonization standing out among them. The present review outlines the biological potential of nanoformulated plant polyphenolic compounds. It also summarizes the employability of various polyphenols as nanoformulations for cancer and neurological and cardiovascular disease treatment. Nanoencapsulated polyphenols, singular or in combinations, effective both in vitro and in vivo, need more investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characteristics of a person's health status are often guided by how they live, grow, learn, their genetics, as well as their access to health care. Yet, all too often, studies examining the relationship between social determinants of health (behavioral, sociocultural, and physical environmental factors), the role of demographics, and health outcomes poorly represent these relationships, leading to misinterpretations, limited study reproducibility, and datasets with limited representativeness and secondary research use capacity. This is a profound hurdle in what questions can or cannot be rigorously studied about COVID‐19. In practice, gene–environment interactions studies have paved the way for including these factors into research. Similarly, our understanding of social determinants of health continues to expand with diverse data collection modalities as health systems, patients, and community health engagement aim to fill the knowledge gaps toward promoting health and wellness. Here, a conceptual framework is proposed, adapted from the population health framework, socioecological model, and causal modeling in gene–environment interaction studies to integrate the core constructs from each domain with practical considerations needed for multidisciplinary science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: It is a common practice to add intrathecal lipophilic opioids to local anesthetics to improve the quality of subarachnoid block. This study was designed to find a dose of intrathecal fentanyl, which can improve the quality of surgical anesthesia with minimal side effects in parturients undergoing cesarean section under spinal anesthesia with intrathecal bupivacaine. Material and Methods: In a prospective randomized double‑blind study, 243 parturients undergoing cesarean section under spinal anesthesia were randomly allocated to receive 10, 15, or 25 μg of intrathecal fentanyl with 10 mg of 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine. Patients were assessed for clinical efficacy by measuring pain score, need for rescue analgesia, conversion to general anesthesia, and complaints of inadequacy of surgical anesthesia by the surgeon. The side effects assessed were pruritus, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and decrease in saturation and respiratory rate. In addition, neonatal APGAR score, patients' hemodynamics, need for vasopressors, onset and duration of sensory, and motor block were measured. Results: Patients receiving 25 μg of fentanyl had a significantly higher incidence of pruritus, nausea, and dizziness in addition to a significantly prolonged sensory and motor block (P < 0.001). All patients in three groups had adequate surgical anesthesia with no statistically significant difference in the onset of block, quality of surgical anesthesia, pain scores, neonatal APGAR score, hemodynamic variables, and need for vasopressor. Conclusion: For patients undergoing cesarean section, 10 or 15 μg of intrathecal fentanyl with 10 mg of bupivacaine provided adequate surgical anesthesia and analgesia with minimal side effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the first report of data analyses from a consortium of longitudinal genetic-risk studies on offspring of schizophrenic parents (CLOSSER) who were followed from birth or mid-childhood to their early 20’s or considerably older ages. Three of the CLOSSER studies provide data to enable us to address long-persisting questions in the schizophrenia literature concerning possible atypicality of hand dominance associated with the illness. Handedness, used as a proxy for cerebral lateralization, is a topic of considerable importance because of its potential to reveal mechanisms in the underlying pathophysiology of schizophrenia. We examine agreement among the CLOSSER studies with respect to possible deviance in handedness in subjects with schizophrenic parents (high-risk individuals) and specifically in those who have gone on to develop adult schizophrenia, compared with other subjects of these studies. Possible developmental delay in age at lateralization is also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]