Search

Other advantages of breastfeeding are: it costs less than artificial feeding; helps a mother and baby to bond closely — strengthens a deep love relationship; helps the baby develop; can help delay a new pregnancy; protects maternal health. Helps the uterus return to its previous size. This helps reduce bleeding and can help prevent anemia. Breastfeeding also reduces the risk of ovarian cancer and possible breast cancer in the mother.

Plasmids are extrachromosomal genetic elements that often encode fitness enhancing features. However, many bacteria carry ‘cryptic’ plasmids that do not confer clear beneficial functions. We identified one such cryptic plasmid, pBI143, which is ubiquitous across industrialized gut microbiomes, and is 14 times as numerous as crAssphage, currently established as the most abundant genetic element in the human gut. The majority of mutations in pBI143 accumulate in specific positions across thousands of metagenomes, indicating strong purifying selection. pBI143 is monoclonal in most individuals, likely due to the priority effect of the version first acquired, often from one’s mother. pBI143 can transfer between Bacteroidales and although it does not appear to impact bacterial host fitnessin vivo, can transiently acquire additional genetic content. We identified important practical applications of pBI143, including its use in identifying human fecal contamination and its potential as an inexpensive alternative for detecting human colonic inflammatory states.

Presented in this paper is an innovative, uniform seismic protection system of masonry and infilled frame buildings created on the basis of a specifically upgraded sliding isolation system with new SF devices. The new building sliding-space flange protection system (BSSF system) represents a specific research segment of the integral research project, led by the fourth author, conducted in the Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology (IZIIS), Ss. Cyril and Methodius University (Skopje), during three and a half years, in the frames of the innovative NATO Science for Peace and Security Project “Seismic Upgrading of Bridges in South-East Europe by Innovative Technologies (SFP: 983828)”, involving five European countries. The upgraded, seismically isolated sliding system with integrated space flange (SF) energy dissipation (ED) devices has been developed as a mechanical passive concept to provide harmonized response of building structures to strong earthquakes. It is formulated as an adaptive system, which follows the adopted concept of global optimization of seismic energy balance, through utilization of newly designed dissipation devices as a supplementary damping level to the building isolation. The new BSSF protection system is based on obligatory incorporation of the following three integrated complementary systems: (1) Sliding seismic isolation (SSI) system, (2) SF seismic energy dissipation (ED) system and (3) Earthquake displacement limiting (EDL) system. The proposed seismically resistant BSSF building system represents a qualitatively new strategy for construction of modern masonry and framed masonry buildings by applying traditional and new construction materials and providing simultaneously: (1) Full seismic safety of protected buildings, (2) Reduction of construction time, and (3) Profitable construction in seismic areas achieved by the special system characteristics.

Background and Aims Exclusive enteral nutrition [EEN] is a dietary intervention to induce clinical remission in children with active luminal Crohn’s disease [CD]. While changes in the gut microbial communities have been implicated in achieving this remission, a precise understanding of the role of microbial ecology in the restoration of gut homeostasis is lacking. Methods Here we reconstructed genomes from the gut metagenomes of 12 paediatric subjects who were sampled before, during and after EEN. We then classified each microbial population into distinct ‘phenotypes’ or patterns of response based on changes in their relative abundances throughout the therapy on a per-individual basis. Results Our data show that children achieving clinical remission during therapy were enriched with microbial populations that were either suppressed or that demonstrated a transient bloom as a function of EEN. In contrast, this ecosystem-level response was not observed in cases of EEN failure. Further analysis revealed that populations that were suppressed during EEN were significantly more prevalent in healthy children and adults across the globe compared with those that bloomed ephemerally during the therapy. Conclusions These observations taken together suggest that successful outcomes of EEN are marked by a temporary emergence of microbial populations that are rare in healthy individuals, and a concomitant reduction in microbes that are commonly associated with gut homeostasis. Our work is a first attempt to highlight individual-specific, complex environmental factors that influence microbial response in EEN. This model offers a novel, alternative viewpoint to traditional taxonomic strategies used to characterize associations with health and disease states.

Introduction: Nurses spend more time with patients than any other member of the healthcare team. They play a critical, active and very important part in controlling cancer patients' pain and alleviating suffering. This study aimed to explore current nursing practices in the oncology hospital and the level of knowledge they possess about pain and its management in clinical settings. Methods: This is a transversal type study developed on the basis of cluster sampling type on nurses in the Oncology Hospital, Tirana. The study was conducted in the period 2016-2018 and the sample consisted of 119 nurses. Results: In total, 119 questionnaires were completed by oncology hospital nurses. Regarding the gender of was seen a predominance of women nurses compared to men 78.15% and 21.85% respectively. Nurses between the age 30 until to 39 years old were 34.4% of participants. Nurses of different gender, education level, and place of birth showed statistically significant difference. Only 23.5 % of nurses had pain training and education, and less than half of nurses (43.7%) had 5-10 years in oncology hospital. In this study, knowledge and practice of nurse’s participant on non-and pharmacological pain management were more than 55%. Related to the pain assessment 36.1% were based on the information provided by the patients, while 31.1% of nurses had used the visual analogue scale for pain assessment. According to the ways of pain management, almost 76.5% of nurses think that the best ways of pain management were pharmacology and 71.4% selected opioid analgesic medication while 28.6% selected non-opioid analgesic medication. Contacting the physician for the prescription of opioids was cited as the main delaying process by 43.7% of participants. Conclusions: The results of the study demonstrated that the nurses had limited knowledge of pain management, because of non-training courses for consequence all of it was associated with poor attitude toward pain management. Most of them did not have formal training in pain management either at the local level. Many of them are familiar with oral route of administration of opioids but still the logistics of administration is not clear to them. Nowadays training and education in pain management is a necessity for medical staff especially for nurses because the adequate knowledge is vital in the provision of quality pain management to patients.

BACKGROUND: Nosocomial infections are the leading cause of mortality, due to acquired nosocomial infections. Nosocomial urinary tract infections occur during or after hospitalization in patients who did not have an incubation phase of the infection at the time of admission to the hospital. AIM: In this study, we aim to define and manage nosocomial urinary tract infections in intensive care at University Hospital Center “Mother Teresa” Tirana. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 1350 patients were included in the study, of which 115 patients resulted in nosocomial nosocomial infections. The mean age of patients was 62 ± 16.6 years. RESULTS: Out of 1350 patients hospitalized in the Intensive Care during the period October 2019 - December 2020, 4% of patients result in urinary tract infections or 45% of the total for 115 cases of nosocomial infections. We see that men have a higher percentage than women of being affected by urinary tract infections, it is significant (p < 0.001). The etiological cause of nosocomial urinary tract infections was Escherichia coli in 61.5% of cases. For nosocomial urinary tract infections, patients are monitored for fever, examination of urine complete, and uroculture. The mean hospital stay for patients without nosocomial infection of the urinary tract was 4 days, while that of those with urinary tract infection was 18.49 ± 27.68 (from 5 to 180 days). In comparison to the mean mentioned above, it is significant (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Nosocomial urinary tract infections are common in patients admitted to intensive care. Key recommendations should be given on diagnostic strategies, testing, selection of antibiotics as well as duration of treatment. We also need to collect data on how to prevent nosocomial infections in general and nosocomial urinary tract infections in particular.

Pojavom konvencionalne poljoprivrede dolazi do značajnog porasta prinosa kod mnogobrojnih kultura zahvaljujući korištenjem naprednije mehanizacije, gnojiva te raznih preparata za zaštitu biljaka. Posljedice konvencionalne poljoprivrede očituju se kroz pojavu degradacije tla, narušavanja ekosustava i kroz gubitak bioraznolikosti u tlu. Uz konzervacijsku poljoprivredu, dolazi do poboljšanja kvalitete tla, bolje mikrobiološke aktivnosti u tlu te poboljšanih uvjeta za rast i razvoj usjeva. Degradacija tla se očituje kroz indikatore tla koji ukazuju na negativne promjene u tlu i pomažu pri donošenju odluka i radnji koje je potrebno obaviti na zemljištu. Indikatori degradacije mogu biti vizualni, fizikalni, kemijski i biološki. U odnosu na konvencionalnu, konzervacijska obrada tla pokazuje mnogobrojne prednosti, od kojih su najbitnije sprječavanje daljnje degradacije tla i popravljanje svojstava tla. Studija slučaja koja je uključena u ovaj rad dokazuje da je konzervacijski sustav obrade tla puno povoljniji u odnosu na standardnu obradu tla., The appearance of conventional agriculture caused a substantial increase in crop yield due to the usage of advanced mechanization, fertilizers and various plant protection substances. However, the consequences of conventional agriculture were shown through soil degradation, damaging the ecosystem and through loss of biodiversity in the soil. With conservational agriculture, there was an increase in soil quality, better soil microbiological activity and generally better terms for growth and development of crops. Soil degradation presents itself through soil indicators which besides pointing to the negative changes in the soil also help with proper decision making regarding the necessary operations that need to be performed. Soil indicator type can be visual, physical, chemical and biological. Compared to conventional agriculture, conservational tillage shows many advantages, of which the most important are the prevention of further soil degradation and restoring soil properties. The case study included in this thesis shows that the conservational tillage system is much more beneficial than the conventional one.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.[5] The disease quickly spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic., References: 1. .github.com/CSSEGISandData/COVID-19/tree/master/csse_covid_19_data 2. github.com/datasets/covid-19/tree/main/data 3. Misho,E.,2020.COVID-19ANDIMPACTONENVIRONMENTALANDINTERNATIONALLAEIN ALBANIA. 7th International Scientific Conference "Social Changes in the Global Eorld", [online] (341:502),pp.127-130.Availableat:[Accessed11March2021]. 4. Kuci, S., Ibrahimi, A., Bejko, E., Llazo, S., Goga, M., Likaj, E., Kacani, A., Collaku, A. and Dhimitri, D., 2021.Treatment of COVID-19 Complications at Home Conditions. Albanian Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery,5(1),pp.823-828. 5. ArcGIS. Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved 19 January 2023. 6. ^ Page J, Hinshaw D, McKay B (26 February 2021). "In Hunt for Covid-19 Origin, Patient Zero Points to Second Wuhan Market – The man with the first confirmed infection of the new coronavirus told the WHO team that his parents had shopped there". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 27 February 2021. 7. ^ Islam MA (April 2021). "Prevalence and characteristics of fever in adult and paediatric patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A systematic review and meta-analysis of 17515 patients". PLOS ONE. 16 (4): e0249788. Bibcode:2021PLoSO..1649788I. 8. Islam MA (April 2021). "Prevalence and characteristics of fever in adult and paediatric patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A systematic review and meta-analysis of 17515 patients". PLOS ONE. 16 (4): e0249788. Bibcode:2021PLoSO..1649788I. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0249788. PMC 8023501. PMID 33822812. 9. ^ Islam MA (November 2020). "Prevalence of Headache in Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 14,275 Patients". Frontiers in Neurology. 11: 562634. doi:10.3389/fneur.2020.562634. PMC 7728918. PMID 33329305. 10. ^ Saniasiaya J, Islam MA (April 2021). "Prevalence of Olfactory Dysfunction in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): A Meta-analysis of 27,492 Patients". The Laryngoscope. 131 (4): 865–878. doi:10.1002/lary.29286. ISSN 0023-852X. PMC 7753439. PMID 33219539. 11. ^ Saniasiaya J, Islam MA (November 2020). "Prevalence and Characteristics of Taste Disorders in Cases of COVID-19: A Meta-analysis of 29,349 Patients". Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery. 165 (1): 33–42. doi:10.1177/0194599820981018. PMID 33320033. S2CID 229174644. 12. ^ Agyeman AA, Chin KL, Landersdorfer CB, Liew D, Ofori-Asenso R (August 2020). "Smell and Taste Dysfunction in Patients With COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis". Mayo Clin. Proc. 95 (8): 1621–1631. doi:10.1016/j.mayocp.2020.05.030. PMC 7275152. PMID 32753137. 13. ^ Oran DP, Topol EJ (January 2021). "The Proportion of SARS-CoV-2 Infections That Are Asymptomatic: A Systematic Review". Annals of Internal Medicine. 174 (5): M20-6976. doi:10.7326/M20-6976. PMC 7839426. PMID 33481642. 14. ^ "Interim Clinical Guidance for Management of Patients with Confirmed Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)". U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 6 April 2020. Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2020. 15. ^ Jump up to:a b CDC (11 February 2020). "Post-COVID Conditions". U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Retrieved 12 July 2021. 16. ^ CDC (11 February 2020). "Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)". U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Retrieved 6 December 2020. 17. ^ "Clinical Questions about COVID-19: Questions and Answers". U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 17 November 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2022. 18. ^ Jump up to:a b c "Overview of Testing for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19". U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 11 February 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2022. 19. ^ Jump up to:a b c "Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (NAATs)". U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 11 February 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2022.

Sewage pollution causes the presence of pharmaceuticals (PhAC) and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in freshwaters worldwide. Like many other emerging contaminants (ECs), PhACs and EDCs can be bioaccumulated in various aquatic organisms. Emergence of aquatic insects connects aquatic and terrestrial food webs in riparian zones causing transfer of pollutants from aquatic to terrestrial food webs. Data on such contaminant flux are very scarce for PhACs and EDCs ; for instance, lateral transport through food webs in the riparian zone is still unexplored. With the aim of exploring how food web linkages impact transfer from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystem of PhACs and EDCs we conducted an in situ study at a river stretch impacted by the WWTP effluents. More specifically, to study transport of the ECs laterally into the riparian zone, sampling sites on one riverbank were split into three transects – aquatic and two in riparian zone (0-1 m and 1-3 m distance from the waterline, respectively). Sampling involved invertebrates belonging to various levels of food webs, as well as soil, water, biofilm and macrophytes samples. All samples were screened for 123 compounds using ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) system coupled to a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer. First results show that 65% of ECs were detected across all samples ; however, presence and concentrations of individual compounds vary among sample types. For instance, bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical widely used in plastics manufacturing, was present in majority of sample types ; however, in low concentrations (e.g., up to 0.4 ng/g dry weight in biofilm, up to 1.64 and 2.96 ng/g dry weight in soil and macrophytes, respectively). Furthermore, BPA concentrations in riparian spiders declined with distance from the waterline in the riparian zone, highlighting the importance of trophic transfer of waterborne pollutants into terrestrial habitats, as emerging aquatic insects are known to represent the major food source of riparian spiders. Through providing new insights on food web flux and related lateral extent of the subsidy in the riparian zone, this study will contribute to understanding of the cross-ecosystem flux of PhACs and EDCs.

Additional file 2: Supplementary figures S1, S2, S3 and S4. Fig. S1. Timeline of stool samples collected from FMT study. Each circle represents a stool sample collected from either an FMT donor or FMT recipient. The thicker, red vertical line at day 0 represents the FMT event for each recipient. FMT method (pill or colonoscopy) and FMT recipient health and disease state (C. diff - chronic recurrent Clostridium difficile infection, UC - ulcerative colitis) are indicated on the right. Fig. S2. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination of the taxonomic composition of donor, recipient, and Canadian gut metagenomes at the genus level based on Morisita-Horn dissimilarity. Samples from the same participant are joined by lines with the earliest time point labeled. CAN: Canadian gut metagenomes, DA: donor A, DB: donor B, POST: recipients post-FMT, PRE: recipients pre-FMT. Fig. S3. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination of the taxonomic composition of the donor and recipient metagenomes at genus level based on Morisita-Horn dissimilarity. Samples from the same participant are joined by lines with the earliest time point labeled. DA_POST: donor A recipients post-FMT, DA_PRE: donor A recipients pre-FMT, DA: donor A, DB_POST: donor B recipients post-FMT, DB_PRE: donor B recipients pre-FMT, DB: donor B. Fig. S4. A flowchart outlining our method to assign successful colonization, failed colonization, or undetermined colonization phenotypes to donor-derived populations in the recipients of that donor’s stool.

Freshwater ecosystems are impacted by complex chemical mixtures from multiple sources, including wastewater effluents. Additionally, climate change causes changes in, e.g., water temperatures due to long-term shifts in global weather. Freshwater biodiversity is particularly sensitive to such stressors. Moreover, stressors often interact, resulting in additive or interactive effects that are difficult to study and understand in terms of their impacts. Studies of the multiplicative effects of climate change, e.g., changing water temperatures, and chemical pollutants on freshwater biodiversity and their consequences are limited. Accordingly, the aim of the current study was to investigate the individual and combined effects of wastewater effluent and increased water temperature on model freshwater communities. A mesocosm experiment was conducted using a simplified freshwater food web containing non-vascular macrophytes (moss) and aquatic macroinvertebrates that feed as shredders and grazers. Samples were collected at the beginning and end of the experiment, whereas emerging animals were collected daily. Analyses such as total lipid content, metabolome and lipidome profiling were performed to evaluate the response of non-model aquatic macroinvertebrates to selected stressors at the molecular level. Our results demonstrate a species-specific response to selected stressors and their combination, as well as different modes of action of multiple stressors. Our study highlights the variability in the effects of both individual and multiple stressors on different traits and life stages of various macroinvertebrates in model communities.

Freshwater biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and services are changing at an unprecedented rate due to the impacts of vast number of stressors overlapping in time and space (e.g., habitat alterations, pollution, climate change). Ecological impacts of emerging contaminants (ECs) such as pharmaceuticals (PhACs) and endocrine disruptors (EDCs) on freshwater ecosystems are not fully understood due to a large number of compounds present in the environment, as well as complexity of these ecosystems. Warming related to climate change can increase the toxicity of some chemicals in water making them more dangerous. Thus, such a combination of stressors may have ecological impacts on aquatic organisms like freshwater insects, which perform important ecological functions linking the freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Our study aimed at characterizing effects of individual and combined stressors such as pollution with PhACs and EDCs and increased water temperature on first level consumers (shredding aquatic insects) in freshwaters. We conducted the microcosm experiment with a simplified freshwater food web containing moss (Bryophyta) and a shredding caddisfly larvae of Micropterna nycterobia (Trichoptera). The experiment was conducted in the randomized factorial design, with four treatments: control (C), increased water temperature +4 °C (T2), ECs mix (EC), and multiple stressor treatment (MS = EC + T2). The ECs mix was composed of 15 PhACs and 5 EDCs belonging to different classes, and concentration of each compound was kept at 500 ng/L. Negative effect of increased water temperature on development of M. nycterobia was observed as decrease in body weight of larvae and earlier emergence of adults. The lipidome of M. nycterobia adults was also mainly affected by the temperature increase in both males and females. However, the presence of PhACs and EDCs in water had higher impact on metabolism of aquatic life stages of M. nycterobia than water temperature increase. Multiple stressor effect was recorded in M. nycterobia adults, both in metabolic response, and as a decrease in total lipid content. Thus, combined effects of increased water temperature and presence of PhACs and EDCs in water negatively impact population dynamics of aquatic insects, but they also indicate a reduction in biomass and resource quality for both, aquatic and terrestrial food webs.

Conservation tillage is a type of land management that aims to minimize the frequency or intensity of tillage operations in an effort to protecting the soil by managing crop residue and limiting soil disturbance with minimum or no-tillage. Conservation tillage methods improve soil health and productivity, reduce runoff, increase soil carbon sequestration and limit the extent of erosion and also promote certain economic and environmental benefits as decrease in carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions, less reliance on farm machinery and equipment, and an overall reduction in fuel and labor costs. Changes in the soil health status resulting in a diminished capacity of the ecosystem to provide goods and services for its beneficiaries, are define as soil degradation. The field experiment with different conservation tillage systems in maize production was conducted in 2021 in Čačinci and Križevci. Tillage treatments were: ST (plowing), CTD (conservation deep, loosening up to 30 cm with a minimum of 30% of crop residues) and CTS (conservation shallow, tillage up to 10 cm with a minimum 50% of crop residues). The following parameters were investigated: bulk density (ρv), packing density (PD), soil compaction (by penetrometer), soil organic matter (SOM), soil organic carbon (SOC), soil respiration, estimation of N-mineralization and C/N ratio. After the first year of research, a large heterogeneity of the researched parameters between the tillage treatments was recorded.

Additional file 6. Additional discussion and supplementary figures for A adaptive ecological forces are the primary drivers of microbial colonization; B considerations of annotation bias that reduce the number of genes with functional annotations for microbial populations that typically occur in healthy individuals.