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Nicotine exposure increases the release of glutamate in part through stimulatory effects on pre-synaptic nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). To assess the impact of chronic electronic (e)-cigarette use on these drug dependence pathways, we exposed C57BL/6 mice to three types of inhalant exposures for 3 months; 1) e-cigarette aerosol generated from liquids containing nicotine (ECN), 2) e-cigarette aerosol generated from liquids containing vehicle chemicals without nicotine (Veh), and 3) air only (AC). We investigated the effects of daily e-cigarette exposure on protein levels of α7 nAChR and α4/β2 nAChR, gene expression and protein levels of astroglial glutamate transporters, including glutamate transporter-1 (GLT-1) and cystine/glutamate antiporter (xCT), in the frontal cortex (FC), striatum (STR) and hippocampus (HIP). We found that chronic inhalation of ECN increased α4/β2 nAChR in all brain regions, and increased α7 nAChR expression in the FC and STR. The total GLT-1 relative mRNA and protein expression were decreased in the STR. Moreover, GLT-1 isoforms (GLT-1a and GLT-1b) were downregulated in the STR in ECN group. However, inhalation of e-cigarette aerosol downregulated xCT expression in STR and HIP compared to AC and Veh groups. ECN group had increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the STR compared to control groups. Finally, mass spectrometry detected high concentrations of the nicotine metabolite, cotinine, in the FC and STR in ECN group. This work demonstrates that chronic inhalation of nicotine within e-cigarette aerosols significantly alters the expression of nAChRs and astroglial glutamate transporters in specific mesocorticolimbic brain regions.

Background: Fasting headaches frequently occur during the first few days of Ramadan, and treatment is challenging because of fasting. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of extended‐release paracetamol on preventing fasting headaches. Methods: A randomized, open‐label clinical trial investigated the efficacy of extended‐release paracetamol at a daily dose of 1330 mg in preventing fasting headache. Adults aged 18 years and older were recruited through the Clinical Trial Unit at the King Saud University Medical City. The eligible participants in the study fasted 13.5 h daily during the first week of Ramadan. Participants in the treatment and control arms were followed up to investigate the occurrence, severity, and timing of headache symptoms via self‐reporting using a standardized headache diary scale with a daily online link or phone call. The primary outcome was the frequency of headache episodes while fasting during the first week of Ramadan. Results: A total of 238 participants were enrolled and randomized. Of these, 173 followed the protocol (80 treated, 93 control) for at least the first day and were included in the analysis. Most participants were young and healthy, with a mean age of 32.2 ± 10.2 years. More men were included in the study (102/173; 59.0%), a small proportion of participants were smokers (31/173; 17.9%), and almost all participants reported being coffee drinkers (165/173; 95.4%); nonetheless, these characteristics were evenly distributed between the two groups in the study. The overall incidence of headache episodes was 33.0% (57/173) on day 1 and decreased to 11.3% (18/159) on day 7. On average over the 7 days, no significant effect was observed for the treatment on the incidence of headache, as the findings from the generalized estimating equation model indicated (β = −0.398, p = 0.084; odds ratio = 0.67, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.42–1.06). Moreover, there was initially no significant difference in the incidence of headache episodes between the treatment and control groups. However, the treatment group had significantly fewer headache episodes during fasting than the control group on day 3 (4/72 [5.6%] vs. 15/91 [16.5%], p = 0.031; relative risk [RR] = 0.34, 95% CI 0.12–0.97) and day 6 (5/69 [7.2%] vs. 20/90 [22.2%], p = 0.010; RR = 0.33, 95% CI 0.13–0.82). No adverse effects were observed during the study period. Conclusion: No significant differences were observed in the occurrence of fasting headaches between the two groups on most days during the study period. Additional studies are required to address fasting headaches during the first week of Ramadan. Plain Language Summary: Ramadan is a month in which millions of Muslims fast from dawn to dusk; however, fasting during the day (e.g., for 13 hours) may cause headache and discourage individuals from this spiritual practice and can impact normal productivity, especially during the first week as the body adapts. We tested whether taking extended‐release paracetamol before fasting in the morning could avert fasting‐induced headache. Extended‐release paracetamol can be partially beneficial in delaying, but not necessarily preventing, fasting‐induced headache. [Correction added on 12th September 2024, after the first online publication: The Plain Language Summary has been updated.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health literacy-driven interventions in patients with type 2 diabetes have been found to play an important role in achieving glycemic control and enhancing diabetic self-management outcomes. The present study aimed to examine the role of health literacy as a predictor of quality of life among diabetic patients in Jordan. Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 400 Type 2 diabetic patients visiting the endocrinology department at the outpatient clinic at Al Basheer Hospital in Amman, Jordan. The data were collected between 1st of August and 28th of December 2023, using the validated Jordanian Diabetic Health Literacy Questionnaire and the EuroQol-5D tool. A quantile regression analysis was conducted to explore the factors associated with health–related quality of life among the study participants. Result: This study included 68.8% females, with a median age of 58 (50–64) years. The median EQ5-D index score was 0.66 (0.41–0.78). Findings from regression analysis indicated as patients' age increased, their quality of life scores significantly decreased (-0.004, 95%CI (-0.006, -0.001), p = 0.002). Additionally, higher JDHLQ scores were significantly associated with higher EQ5-D scores (0.012, 95% CI (0.006–0.018), p<0.001). Moreover, patients with only an elementary education had significantly lower EQ5-D scores compared to those with a postgraduate education (-0.106, 95%CI (-0.190, -0.023), p = 0.013). Conclusion: The findings of the present study emphasize the importance of including health literacy assessments and interventions in the diabetes care plans of patients in Jordan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cotton is one of the major cash crop in the agriculture led economies across the world. Cotton leaf diseases affects its yield globally. Determining cotton lesions on leaves is difficult when the area is big and the size of lesions is varied. Automated cotton lesion detection is quite useful; however, it is challenging due to fewer disease class, limited size datasets, class imbalance problems, and need of comprehensive evaluation metrics. We propose a novel deep learning based method that augments the data using generative adversarial networks (GANs) to reduce the class imbalance issue and an ensemble-based method that combines the feature vector obtained from the three deep learning architectures including VGG16, Inception V3, and ResNet50. The proposed method offers a more precise, efficient and scalable method for automated detection of diseases of cotton crops. We have implemented the proposed method on publicly available dataset with seven disease and one health classes and have achieved highest accuracy of 95% and F-1 score of 98%. The proposed method performs better than existing state of the art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel series of benzimidazole hydrazone‐Schiff bases have been prepared through multi‐step reaction process and structurally confirmed by13C‐,1H‐NMR and HR‐MS (ESI) spectroscopic techniques and evaluated against prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) inhibitory activity. In the series, eleven derivatives 20, 14 15, 19, 10, 9, 11, 4, 5, 18, and 21 revealed excellent inhibition potential having IC50 values from (IC50=1.44±0.08 μM) to (IC50=5.66±0.48 μM). However, six out of twenty compounds 12, 16, 13, 17, 22, and 3 attributed significant activity while, three compounds were found good active in the range of IC50 values 10.43±0.57 to 11.45±0.63 μM. The docking studies indicates that the hydrazone moiety show an imperative part in binding with one of the catalytic residues (Arg643) in the substrate binding region of POP enzyme. The excellent inhibitions of these compounds for POP enzyme may lead them to be a good candidates for drug against neurodegenerative diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Improving health literacy has been found to play a significant role in enhancing medication adherence in patients with type 2 diabetes. Purpose: The present study aims to evaluate health literacy and its association with medication adherence among diabetic patients in Jordan. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 400 diabetic patients, predominantly female (68.8%), with a median age of 58 years, attending the endocrinology outpatient clinic at Albasheer Hospital in Amman, Jordan, between August and December 2023. Patients were recruited using convenience sampling, including those aged 18 and older, literate, diagnosed with T2DM for at least one year, and on at least one medication for T2DM. Sample size was calculated based on the Events Per Variable (EPV) criterion to ensure sufficient power for logistic regression analysis. Data were collected using two validated instruments: the Jordanian Diabetic Health Literacy Questionnaire (JDHLQ), assessing health literacy, and the Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS-5), measuring medication adherence. A binary logistic regression model was constructed to identify variables associated with adherence levels. Results: The study enrolled 400 diabetic patients (females =68.8%). While most of the participants (70.3%) reported high adherence levels, results revealed a window for health literacy improvement as the median for the JDHLQ score was 22 (ranging from 18 to 25) out of a maximum possible score of 32. More than half of the participants replied "never" to "I forget to take my medications", followed by "I stop taking my medications for a while". Conclusion: The binary regression model revealed that a higher JDHLQ score significantly increased the odds of a high adherence level. The significant association between improved health literacy and medication adherence necessitates the implementation of educational campaigns for enhancing literacy and hence medication adherence among patients with type 2 diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A synthesized Schiff base ligand 4-{(Z)-[(2-hydroxy-1-naphthyl)methylene]amino}-4-antipyrene (H-NAPP) was confirmed by single crystal diffraction analysis. The H-NAPP was crystalized in the P 21 21 21 space group and orthorhombic crystal system. The Schiff base ligand H-NAPP bears potential donor sites and therefore it was reacted with transition metal ions Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, and Zn2+ to yield respective metal complexes. All reaction products were investigated by elemental analyses and IR spectroscopic techniques. The combined spectroscopic characterizations revealed the distorted square planar geometries for all the synthesized metal complexes. The metal complexes were further studied for their thermal stabilities using TG techniques and proved to be thermally cleaved in the temperature range of 30–1,000°C in air. Pseudo-mirrored 2D fingerprint plots were used for the short interatomic interactions in the crystal structure. The major short interatomic interactions involve the hydrogen bonding which covers the Hirshfeld surfaces {H···H, O···H and C···H}. The ligand and complexes were investigated for a potential α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. While relatively inactive throughout, some notable differences were observed and, surprisingly, the ligand was found to be more active than its complexes.