Search

Abstract Introduction Melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, has witnessed a notable increase in incidence over the past decades. Despite advancements in treatment, it remains a significant cause of cancer mortality. Understanding demographic trends and variations in melanoma mortality is crucial for addressing disparities and implementing effective interventions. Methods Using the Centers for Disease Control Wide Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (CDC WONDER) database, we analyzed melanoma mortality data in the United States from 1999 to 2020. Data were stratified by demographic and regional variables, and age-adjusted mortality rates were calculated. Descriptive analysis was performed and Joinpoint regression analysis was employed to identify temporal trends. Results Between 1999 and 2020, there were 184,416 melanoma-related deaths in the United States Overall, the age-adjusted mortality rate declined from 2.7 to 2.0 per 100,000 people at a rate of -1.3% annually, with significant variations across demographic groups and regions. Men, non-Hispanic White individuals, and those aged > 65 experienced higher mortality rates. Non-Hispanic White individuals noted the steepest decrease in AAMR after 2013 at a rate of -6.1% annually. Disparities were seen by geographic density, with rural populations exhibiting higher mortality compared to their urban and suburban counterparts. Conclusion The study highlights a significant reduction in melanoma mortality in the U.S. since 2013, potentially attributed to advancements in diagnostic techniques such as dermoscopy and the introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Disparities persist, particularly among rural populations. Targeted interventions focusing on increased screening and education are warranted to further mitigate melanoma mortality and address demographic disparities. more...

Introduction: World Health Organization (WHO) 6 steps for effective Hand Hygiene (HH) practice to prevent cross infections emphasises on coverage of all aspects of the hand with the Alcohol Based Hand Rub (ABHR). The quality of hand rubbing usually remains un-monitored among healthcare workers. Hence, interventions to ensure both compliance and quality combined with periodic training would fill the deficiency in these practices in the healthcare setting. Aim: To analyse the quality of HH using an Ultraviolet (UV) sensitive ABHR among healthcare workers in the Operation Theatre (OT) and post-surgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum, Kerala, India. Study population included 104 healthcare providers in the OT and post-surgical ICU, over a period of two months, from June 2017 to July 2017. Participants were asked to disinfect their hands according to WHO 6 steps using an ABHR to which an UV light sensitive pigment was added, and then place them in an UV light sensitive cabinet. Digital images of both sides of their hands were recorded. Every area of the hand not covered by the hand rub appeared as a dark spot and was considered an error. Pass criteria allowed a maximum of two small uncovered areas (dark spots <0.6 cm2) on the dorsal side of the hand and no uncovered areas on the palmar aspect. Each hand was observed specifically at four areas and the most missed areas were identified. Statistical analysis was done by Fisher'sexact test using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 28.0. Results: Out of the total 104 participants, 28 were doctors, 46 were nurses, 22 were nursing students and 8 were OT technicians. A total of 65 participants were males (62%) and 85 participants (82%) were in the 35-40 years age group. The HH was found to be better on the right hand in all the sub-groups studied. The difference in the hand rub coverage on all the four observed areas of the right hand was not significant. On the left-side, hygiene in between the fingers (p-value 0.012) and at the finger tips (p-value 0.007) was poorest. Among the groups studied, doctors performed better with a higher group score of 60.7% compared to 22.7% of that of nursing students (p-value 0.030). Conclusion: Quality of HH practice using ABHR among personnel involved in peri-operative care is poor and requires improvement with regular monitoring and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Copyright of Tikrit Journal of Engineering Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) more...

Background Technology advancement along with the increase in the older adults’ population leads to the creation of health applications. The combination of exercise, nutrition, and cognition should be studied carefully in improving older adults’ health. Objective The purpose of this study is to develop a health application, WeFit contains these three components and to determine its content validity, acceptability, and usability. Methodology This study is a design and development study involving three phases. The first phase is the need analysis involving a review on 16 mobile applications available in Google play and iTunes App store as well as a review of six articles for identifying the perception of older adults in using mobile applications. Second phase is mobile application development and content validity. The content validity was determined using the Content Validity Index for Individual Items (I-CVI). Phase 3 evaluated the acceptance of the WeFit mobile application among older adults and health practitioners. Results Phase 1 indicated that half of the applications reviewed (50.0%) had physical activity component and the other half (50.0%) had a cognitive component, and none on nutrition. No application is reported to have all three components. In Phase 2, WeFit health application containing the three components was developed where users can view exercise and food recommendations and play cognitive games. WeFit had an I-CVI value of 0.98. With respect to acceptability, majority of the study participants (93.3%) understood the WeFit's content and the graphics used were appropriate. The usability study found that the majority of the older adults were satisfied with the interface and content. All health practitioners (100%) agreed WeFit is easy to use and agreed that it can guide them in giving medical advices. Conclusion WeFit mobile app has been successfully developed, validated, and tested for acceptance among the older adults and health practitioners. more...

Abstract Background Intensive manual therapy is important for improving lifelong upper limb motor outcomes for infants and toddlers with cerebral palsy. This play-based therapy is delivered by caregivers who are coached by occupational therapists. However, access to this therapy is very limited for Canadian children with cerebral palsy younger than two years old. This project aims to first identify barriers and facilitators and then design implementation strategies to support early intensive manual therapy delivery for infants and toddlers with cerebral palsy across Canada. Methods A mixed-methods sequential explanatory design will be used with four consecutive phases. The updated Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research will guide the study. Quantitative data will be collected from a survey in Phase One. Participants will be recruited from three groups: (1) Caregivers of children with cerebral palsy six years old and younger who are eligible for manual therapy; (2) occupational therapists who treat children with cerebral palsy; and (3) healthcare administrators or people responsible for managing pediatric occupational therapy programs. In Phase Two, quantitative data from the survey will be used to map to implementation strategies known to be effective at addressing the identified modifiable barriers and facilitators. Phase Three will collect qualitative data from semi-structured interviews for the purpose of explaining Phase One quantitative findings in greater depth, and for understanding the appropriateness of strategies identified in Phase Two. The participant recruitment strategy and interview guide content for Phase Three will be informed by results of Phase One. Phase Four will use a modified nominal group technique to refine and prioritize an implementation strategy toolbox. Results will be widely disseminated to knowledge users to provide them with tailorable strategies to increase delivery of early intensive manual interventions. Discussion This study will provide a comprehensive understanding of the barriers and facilitators to implementation of early intensive manual therapy for young children with cerebral palsy in Canada. A toolbox of evidence-based and tailorable implementation strategies will be disseminated nationally to support uptake of early intensive manual therapy into clinical practice for young children with cerebral palsy. more...

Abstract Background Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a widely seen reproductive and endocrinological disorder. PCOS can exert substantial effects on many aspects of an individual’s life, including reproductive health and psychological well-being. The objective of this study was to assess the nutritional status, premenstrual syndrome, and mental health of women affected by PCOS in comparison to women without PCOS. Methodology A case-control observational study in Palestine included 100 PCOS patients and 200 healthy women. The collected data included socio-demographic information, medical history, premenstrual syndrome, mental health, nutritional status, and lifestyle. Anthropometric measurement and the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS) were used to evaluate the nutritional status. The General Health Questionnaire (12-GHQ) was used to evaluate the state of mental health. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) severity was evaluated using a validated Arabic premenstrual syndrome questionnaire. Results The study’s findings indicated that there was a statistically significant increase in the three dimensions of PMS among participants with PCOS, p more...

Objective: SMARCA4-deficient undifferentiated tumor (SMARCA4-UT) is a highly malignant neoplasm with an undifferentiated or rhabdoid phenotype, posing a diagnostic challenge. This case report aims to create awareness about this rare neoplasm while dealing with cases presenting with undifferentiated morphology. Case Report: A 55-year-old gentleman with constitutional symptoms and lymphadenopathy. Imaging revealed a mass lesion in the right upper lobe of the lung. A biopsy of the cervical lymph node showed diffusely effaced architecture replaced by sheets of undifferentiated pleomorphic cells with vesicular nuclei, prominent nucleoli, eosinophilic cytoplasm, and multiple necrotic foci. An extensive immunohistochemistry (IHC) panel was applied, which showed positivity for synaptophysin, vimentin, and focal CD34 and EMA expression. Other markers like pan-cytokeratin, p40, TTF1, CD56, INSM1, calretinin, CD45, SOX10, S100, CD30, CD117, SMA, and Desmin were negative, with INI1 retained. The IHC panel excluded the morphological differentials of carcinoma, lymphoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, melanoma, and germ cell tumor. Further literature review led to the possibility of the SMARCA4-UT entity, which had a morphology and IHC profile similar to the present case. Testing for SMARCA4 (BRG-1) by IHC showed a complete loss in the tumor cells, favoring the diagnosis of Thoracic SMARCA4-deficient undifferentiated tumor (SMARCA4-UT). Conclusion: SMARCA4-UTs are rare, highly aggressive, and poorly differentiated thoracic tumors. Recognizing them is vital as there is potential for therapeutic interventions such as immunotherapy and SMARCA4-targeted therapies, offering promising prospects for the future. more...

A promising therapeutic approach to diminish pathological inflammation is to inhibit the increased production and/or biological activity of proinflammatory cytokines (e.g., TNF-[alpha], IL-6). The production of proinflammatory cytokines is controlled at the gene level by the activity of transcription factors, such as NF-[kappa]B. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), a lipid kinase, is known to induce the activation of NF-[kappa]B. Given this, we hypothesized that inhibitors of PI3K activation would demonstrate anti-inflammatory potential. Accordingly, we studied the effects of a preferential p110[alpha]/[gamma] PI3K inhibitor (compound 8C; PIK-75) in inflammation-based assays. Mechanism-based assays utilizing human cells revealed that PIK-75-mediated inhibition of PI3K activation is associated with dramatic suppression of downstream signaling events, including AKT phosphorylation, IKK activation, and NF-[kappa]B transcription. Cell-based assays revealed that PIK-75 potently and dose dependently inhibits in vitro and in vivo production of TNF-[alpha] and IL-6, diminishes the induced expression of human endothelial cell adhesion molecules (E-selectin, ICAM-1, and VCAM-1), and blocks human monocyte-endothelial cell adhesion. Most importantly, PIK-75, when administered orally in a therapeutic regimen, significantly suppresses the macroscopic and histological abnormalities associated with dextran sulfate sodium-induced murine colitis. The efficacy of PIK-75 in attenuating experimental inflammation is mediated, at least in part, due to the downregulation of pertinent inflammatory mediators in the colon. Collectively, these results provide first evidence that PIK-75 possesses anti-inflammatory potential. Given that PIK-75 is known to exhibit anti-cancer activity, the findings from this study thus reinforce the cross-therapeutic functionality of potential drugs. phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; nuclear factor-[kappa]B; cytokines; colitis doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00461.2009. more...

Background and Aims: Subarachnoid block is the most commonly used technique for Caesarean section (CS). Opioids are commonly used as adjuvants and are given premixed with local anesthetics (LA) loaded in a single syringe. In doing so, the density of the hyperbaric solution and also of the adjuvant drugs may be altered, thus affecting the spread of drugs. Administering local anesthetic and the adjuvants separately may minimize the effect of the changes in densities. We aimed to compare block characteristics, intraoperative hemodynamics and post-operative pain relief in parturients undergoing caesarean section after administering hyperbaric bupivacaine and clonidine intrathecally as a mixture and in a sequential manner. Methods: 60 full-term parturients scheduled for elective caesarean section were divided into two groups on the basis of technique of intrathecal drug administration. Group M received mixture of clonidine (45 mcg) and hyperbaric bupivacaine 0.5% (10 mg) intrathecally, whereas Group B received clonidine (45 mcg) followed by hyperbaric bupivacaine 0.5% (10 mg) through separate syringes. Observational descriptive statistics, independent t test were used as applicable. Results: Duration of analgesia was significantly longer in Group B (432.60 ± 64.65 min) in which the drug was given sequentially than in Group M (322 ± 23.24 min). Furthermore, the time to achieve highest sensory block and complete motor block was significantly less in Group B without any major hemodynamic instability and neonatal outcome. Conclusion: When clonidine and hyperbaric bupivacaine were administered in a sequential manner, block characteristics improved significantly compared to the administration of the mixture of the two drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

In recent years, Human action recognition gained more importance for its variety of applications like video surveillance, Entertainment, Human-Robot Interaction and so on. Action recognition targets recognising different actions from a sequence of observations and different environmental conditions. This paper compares two different handcrafted feature extraction techniques (i.e..SIFT and optical flow) with SVM classifier on KTH dataset. The SIFT technique detects the interest points for each frame in the video. Then building a codebook using Bag-of-Words approach with the clustering technique as K-means clustering, then the classification is done using the SVM classifier. Similar, process is followed for another feature extraction technique i.e. optical flow. The experimental results of our approach gives an accuracy of 80.75% for SIFT and 83.45% for optical flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Cobalt ferrite nanoparticles (CFNs) were successfully synthesized by a wet chemical method. The morphology and that of the crystal structure of the synthesized nano ferrites was done by X-ray diffraction analysis and Transmission electron microscopy techniques. The crystalline size of the synthesized nanoparticles was in the range of 30 nm calculated by the Debye-Scherrer equation. A glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with the ferrite nanoparticles (CFNs) was employed for the electrochemical detection of dopamine using the techniques of cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltametry. The chemically modified electrode exhibited exceptional redox action for the detection of dopamine (DA), with a notable decline of overpotential while compared to bare GCE. The CFNs/GCE exhibited excellent stability, reproducibility and sensitivity in the determination of DA with a detection limit of 0.2 µm. The sensor exhibited appreciable electrocatalytic behavior in the simultaneous detection of ascorbic acid (AA), Dopamine (DA) and Uric acid (UA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

OBJECTIVE: Intratracheal (IT) and intravenous (IV) lignocaine suppress airway reflex and hemodynamic response during extubation, but studies regarding this are sparse. The primary aim was to compare the effect of IT and IV lignocaine on attenuation of airway reflex to endotracheal extubation and the secondary aim was to compare the hemodynamic responses to extubation, using lignocaine by the two different routes. METHODS: Seventy-five female patients with comparable age, body mass index, and American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status undergoing carcinoma breast surgery were randomized into three groups. Group A received 2% lignocaine 3 mg/kg intratracheally 5 min and Group B received 2% lignocaine 1.5 mg/kg intravenously 3 min before extubation. Group C was control group. The airway and hemodynamic responses were noted in terms of episodes of cough during emergence and extubation. Categorical variables assessed using Fisher’s exact test and continuous variables assessed using one-way analysis of variance. RESULTS: Cough suppression was present in Groups A and B, with better results observed with IT than with IV lignocaine. In the control group, Grade III cough reflex was present predominantly. There was a statistically significant difference (p<0.001) in blood pressure and heart rate between Group A versus Group C and in Group B versus Group C, but not between Group A and Group B. CONCLUSION: IT lignocaine administered before extubation significantly attenuates post-extubation cough reflex than IV lignocaine. Both IT and IV lignocaine can effectively attenuate the airway and hemodynamic response to extubation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Plant development and crop productivity are drastically reduced worldwide due to biotic and abiotic stresses and their unexpected combinations. The various chemicals (pesticides, fertilizers, and phyto-regulators) and genetic engineering techniques employed to date to improve crop tolerance to multiple stresses have a negative influence on the environment and are time-consuming. This has accelerated efforts to find more eco-friendly ways to control plant stress. Chitosan is a biopolymer which is largely extracted from the deacetylation of chitin and appears as a viable tool to overcome these problems in search of a more environmentally acceptable solution. Due to its biocompatibility, eco-friendly and economic nature, become one of the most popular biopolymers used in agriculture. Chitosan also activates a defence mechanism by signal transduction pathway and transduces secondary molecules of hydrogen peroxide and nitric oxide to scavenge reactive oxygen species. Application of chitosan before subjecting to abiotic stresses such as drought, salt, and heat has been shown to stimulate plant growth and enhance the production of antioxidant enzymes, secondary metabolites, and abscisic acid. In drought, it helps to accumulate osmo-protectants to maintain the water potential of plant cells. On the other hand, plant responses towards chitosan are varying based on its structures, doses, developmental stages and crop type. Keeping these facts in mind this review has written with the objective to update the recent studies on chitosan, its various sources and its effective concentrations in different crops, mechanism of action against biotic and abiotic stress management to improve crop production in agriculture. more...