Synergistic defecation effects of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BL-99 and fructooligosaccharide by modulating gut microbiota by Qi Zhang, Wen Zhao, Jie Luo, Shaoqi Shi, Xiaokang Niu, Jian He, Yicheng Wang, Zhaozhong Zeng, Qiuyue Jiang, Bing Fang, Juan Chen, Yixuan Li, Fuqing Wang, Jingjing He, Jie Guo, Ming Zhang, Liwei Zhang, Shaoyang Ge, Wei-Lian Hung, Ran Wang

“…The synergistic efficacy of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BL-99 (BL-99) and fructooligosaccharide (FOS) on constipation have not been investigated.MethodsLoperamide-induced constipated mice model was established to explore the effect of BL-99, FOS, and BL-99+FOS on changes of defecation-related parameters, gut microbiota and metabolites.Results and discussionThe results showed that BL-99, FOS, and BL-99+FOS each alleviated constipation, with the synbiotic showing significant efficacy in the first black stool defecation time, fecal number, fecal weight, and the gastrointestinal transit rate (P < 0.05). …”
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Analyzing Expressions of the Design Argument and Answering Doubts Attributed to it Based on the Type of Logical Reasoning by Shokoh Monazzam, Abbas Abbaszadeh, Naser Forouhi

“…The design argument is one of the simplest and most common arguments that connects humans to the material world. Since a long time ago, humans have acknowledged the existence of wise and intelligent moderators through thinking about the structure of creatures and their purposiveness. …”
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Evaluating the World Health Organization’s Hearts Model for Hypertension and Diabetes Management: A Pilot Implementation Study in Guatemala by Irmgardt Alicia Wellmann, Luis Fernando Ayala, Taryn M. Valley, Vilma Irazola, Mark D. Huffman, Michele Heisler, Peter Rohloff, Rocío Donis, Eduardo Palacios, Manuel Ramírez-Zea, David Flood

“…When baseline data were available, we analyzed secondary outcomes as the net change from baseline or using an interrupted time series approach. Results: The study enrolled 964 patients, of whom 58.8% had hypertension only, 30.4% had diabetes only, and 10.8% had both conditions. …”
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Effectiveness of acupuncture on glycolipid metabolism in patients with coronary heart disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis by Yuxin Sun, Yu Liu, Jian Xiong, Xiao Li, Ying Wei, Qianhua Zheng, Xiang Li, Wenchuan Qi, Fanrong Liang

“…To assess the effects of acupuncture on glycolipid metabolism in patients with coronary heart disease, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: From the time of library construction to August 18, 2023, Searches were conducted in eight databases, with no language restriction. …”
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Life after prostate cancer diagnosis: protocol for a UK-wide patient-reported outcomes study by David H Brewster, Victoria Cairnduff, Eila Watson, Amy Downing, Adam W Glaser, Penny Wright, William Cross, Conan Donnelly, Anna Gavin, Carol Rivas, Richard Wagland, Peter Selby, Luke Hounsome, Therese Kearney, Rebecca Mottram, Majorie Allen, Oonagh McSorley, Hugh Butcher, Paul Kind, James W H Catto, Dyfed Huws, Emma McNair, Lauren Matheson, Johana Nayoan, Mike Horton, Jessica Corner, Julia Verne

“…Men will be surveyed twice, 12 months apart, to explore changes in outcomes over time. Second, separate cohorts will be surveyed once and the design will include evaluation of the acceptability of online survey tools. …”
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Acute gastrointestinal and post-acute COVID-19 gastrointestinal syndrome assessment on the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale scoring system: A questionnaire-based survey by Sunita Singh, Niraj K. Srivastava, Rahul Yadav, Saurabh Paul, Shefali Gupta, Sankalp, Priyanshi Dixit

“…Conclusion: Long-term COVID-19 syndrome frequently manifested as GI symptoms, whereas most symptoms subsided with time.…”
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Catastrophic expenditure associated with childhood hospitalisation for acute illness in Kenya and Uganda: a cross-sectional study by Sassy Molyneux, Johnstone Thitiri, Laura Mwalekwa, Molline Timbwa, Anna Vassall, Kirkby D Tickell, Judd L Walson, James Berkley, John Mukisa, Ezekiel Mupere, Peter Olupot-Olupot, Priya Sukhtankar, Sheila Murunga, Julie Jemutai, George Paasi, Benson Singa, Shalton Mwaringa, Rebecca Gathoni Njuguna, Yoko V Laurence, Caroline Ogwang, Mwanajuma Juma, Narshion Ngao, Christina Lancioni, Md Fakhar Uddin

“…Caregivers reported losing a median of 7 (4–11) days of productive time during a child’s hospitalisation with a mean loss of income of US$10 (SD US$25.6, median US$0 (US$0–US$10)). 92% and 74% of households experienced catastrophic expenditure at thresholds of 10% and 25% of monthly income, respectively. …”
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Rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XDR lineage derived from recombination between XBB and BA.2.86 subvariants circulating in Brazil in late 2023 by Ighor Arantes, Kimihito Ito, Marcelo Gomes, Felipe Cotrim de Carvalho, Walquiria Aparecida Ferreira de Almeida, Ricardo Khouri, Fabio Miyajima, Gabriel Luz Wallau, Felipe Gomes Naveca, Elisa Cavalcante Pereira, Marilda Mendonça Siqueira, Paola Cristina Resende, Gonzalo Bello

“…The findings underscore the critical role of real-time genomic surveillance in detecting novel variants with higher transmission potential. …”
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Easy, fast and reproducible Stochastic Cellular Automata with chouca by Génin, Alexandre, Dupont, Guillaume, Valencia, Daniel, Zucconi, Mauro, Ávila-Thieme, M. Isidora, Navarrete, Sergio A., Wieters, Evie A.

“…Stochastic cellular automata (SCA) are models that describe spatial dynamics using a grid of cells that switch between discrete states over time. They are widely used to understand how small-scale processes scale up to affect ecological dynamics at larger spatial scales, and have been applied to a wide diversity of theoretical and applied problems in all systems, such as arid ecosystems, coral reefs, forests, bacteria, or urban growth. …”
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Vibration therapy as an intervention for trochanteric hip fractures – A randomized double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial by Ronald Man Yeung Wong, Pui Yan Wong, Chaoran Liu, Chun Sing Chui, Wing Hong Liu, Ning Tang, James Griffith, Ning Zhang, Wing Hoi Cheung

“…Secondary outcome assessments were clinical and functional outcomes with quadriceps muscle strength, balancing ability, handgrip strength, Time Up and Go (TUG) test, quality of life outcomes, pain, falls, and mortality. …”
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Economic burden of breast cancer in India, 2000–2021 and forecast to 2030 by Rakesh N Pillai, Aleena Alex, Narassima M.S., Vivek Verma, Ajil Shaji, Keechilat Pavithran, D. K. Vijaykumar, Denny John

“…The ARIMA (Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average) model was employed to analyze and predict breast cancer prevalence in India up to the year 2030 (time-series forecasting). Data were visualized and checked for stationarity using the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test. …”
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Associations between local COVID-19 policies and anxiety in the USA: a longitudinal digital cohort study by Jeffrey E Olgin, Gregory M Marcus, Rita Hamad, John Kornak, Carmen R Isasi, Ana Sanchez-Birkhead, Mark Pletcher, Soo Park, Natasha Williams, Thomas Carton, Aaron E Cozen, Madelaine Faulkner Modrow, Amy Chiang, Matthew Brandner, Jaime H Orozco, Kristen Azar, Sylvia E K Sudat, Pelin Ozluk, Heather Kitzman, Sara J Knight

“…Local government policies may have contributed to increases in anxiety and mental health disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods We analysed associations between composite policy scores for containment and closure, public health or economic support from the US COVID-19 County Policy Database and self-reported anxiety scores (Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7) from COVID-19 Citizen Science participants between 22 April 2020 and 31 December 2021.Results In 188 976 surveys from 36 711 participants in 100 counties across 28 states, associations between anxiety and containment and closure policy differed by employment (p<0.0001), with elevated anxiety under maximal policy for people working in hospitality and food services (+1.05 vs no policy; 95% CI: 0.45, 1.64) or arts and entertainment (+0.56; 95% CI 0.15, 0.97) and lower anxiety for people working in healthcare (−0.43; 95% CI −0.66 to –0.20) after adjusting for calendar time, county-specific effects and COVID-19 case rates and death rates. …”
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Effect of Autolyzed Yeast on Performance and Physiological Indices of Broiler Chickens Reared at High Stock Density by Samaneh Ghaseminejad, Smayyeh Salari

“…On the 37th day of the experiment, two birds from each replicate were randomly selected and the weight of different parts of the carcass including the weight of gastrointestinal tract, breast, thigh, gizzard, liver, pancreas, and spleen (as a percentage of live body weight) were recorded. Also, at this time, caecal digesta (1 g) from each bird were aseptically transferred into 9 ml of sterile saline solution and serially diluted. …”
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A new multi-grid bathymetric dataset of the Gulf of Naples (Italy) from complementary multi-beam echo sounders by F. Foglini, M. Rovere, R. Tonielli, G. Castellan, G. Castellan, M. Prampolini, M. Prampolini, F. Budillon, M. Cuffaro, G. Di Martino, V. Grande, S. Innangi, M. F. Loreto, L. Langone, F. Madricardo, A. Mercorella, P. Montagna, C. Palmiotto, C. Pellegrini, A. Petrizzo, L. Petracchini, A. Remia, M. Sacchi, D. Sanchez Galvez, A. N. Tassetti, F. Trincardi

“…These high-resolution data highlight the technological advances of geophysical surveys achieved over the last 20 years and contribute to assessing the most dynamic areas where changes in the seafloor over time can be quantified. The new digital multi-resolution bathymetric products are openly accessible via Marine Geosciences Data System MGDS (refer to “Data availability” section, Table 8, for datasets and product DOIs), perfectly matching the FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) and open science principles.…”
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Early risk assessment in paediatric and adult household contacts of confirmed tuberculosis cases by novel diagnostic tests (ERASE-TB): protocol for a prospective, non-interventiona... by Ursula Panzner, Katharina Kranzer, Tsitsi Bandason, Kuda Mutasa, Sandra Rukobo, Charles Sandy, Bariki Mtafya, Andrea Rachow, Norbert Heinrich, Michael Hoelscher, Judith Bruchfeld, Olena Ivanova, Nyanda Elias Ntinginya, Doreen Pamba, Laura Olbrich, Issa Sabi, Simeon Mwanyonga, Elmar Saathoff, Willyhelmina Olomi, Junior Mutsvangwa, Hazel M Dockrell, Edson Tawanda Marambire, Denise Banze, Alfred Mfinanga, Theodora D Mbunda, Khosa Celso, Gunilla Kallenius, Claire J Calderwood, Christof Geldmacher, Kathrin Held, Tejaswi Appalarowthu, Friedrich Rieß, Anna Shepherd, Christopher Sundling, Mishelle Mugava, Martha Chipinduro, Lwitiho Sudi, Antelmo Haule, Emmanuel Sichone, Paschal Qwaray, Harrieth Mwambola, Lilian Minja, Peter Edwin, Dogo Ngalison, Stella Luswema, Celina Nhamuave, António Machiana, Carla Madeira, Emelva Manhiça, Nádia Sitoe, Jorge Ribeiro

“…The Early Risk Assessment in TB Contacts by new diagnoStic tEsts (ERASE-TB) study aims to evaluate novel diagnostics and testing algorithms for early TB diagnosis and accurate prediction of disease progression among household contacts (HHCs) exposed to confirmed index cases in Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.Methods and analysis A total of 2100 HHCs (aged ≥10 years) of adults with microbiologically-confirmed pulmonary TB will be recruited and followed up at 6-month intervals for 18–24 months. At each time point, a WHO symptom screen and digital chest radiograph (dCXR) will be performed, and blood and urine samples will be collected. …”
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Eupalinolide B inhibits periodontitis development by targeting ubiquitin conjugating enzyme UBE2D3 by Wenhua Kuang, Ruishen Zhuge, Ping Song, Letai Yi, Shujie Zhang, Ying Zhang, Yin Kwan Wong, Ruixing Chen, Junzhe Zhang, Yuanbo Wang, Dandan Liu, Zipeng Gong, Peili Wang, Xiangying Ouyang, Jigang Wang

“…Here, we explored the ameliorative effects and underlying molecular mechanism of EB on periodontitis for the first time. We demonstrated that EB ameliorates periodontal inflammation and alveolar bone resorption with a ligated periodontitis mouse model. …”
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Prospective Single-Arm Study of Remifentanil-Propofol Anesthesia with Manual Right Hypochondrial Compression for Painless Gastroscopy in Obese Patients by Wang M, Tang J, Pan Z, Jiang H, Hu D, Zhu B, Liang Z, Zhao X, Li Y

“…However, for obesity, there are changes in airway anatomy structure such as short neck, round chin, and large tongue, which makes them prone to airway obstruction after sleep or anesthesia, blocking the passage of oxygen in and out, which will cause hypoxemia over time and further cause damage to the body. Therefore, it is necessary to explore a safe and effective anesthesia management for painless gastroscopy in obesity. …”
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Changes in key volatile components associated with leaf quality of Pandanus amaryllifolius Roxb. alongside growth duration by Lu Yan, Ang Zhang, Xiaowei Qin, Huan Yu, Xunzhi Ji, Shuzhen He, Ying Zong, Chunhe Gu, Zhen Feng, Lisong Hu, Zhiqing Lu

“…This study provides data support for scientific judgment of the harvesting site and time of Pandan, and provides theoretical basis for further utilization of VOCs of Pandan.…”
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An exploratory study of INPP4B, a biomarker of gemcitabine chemoresistance in pancreatic cancer by REN Jiaqiang, WU Shuai, SU Tong, LI Jie, HAN Liang, WU Zheng

“…Co-expressed genes were screened using real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RTFQ-PCR), Western blot and immunohistochemistry to verify the expression levels of target molecules. …”
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Chinese patent medicine tongxinluo capsule as a supplement to treat chronic coronary syndromes: a GRADE-assessed systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials by Shi-Bing Liang, Shi-Bing Liang, Shi-Bing Liang, Yi-Fei Wang, Yi-Fei Wang, Yi-Fei Wang, Zhen-Chao Niu, Zhen-Chao Niu, Yu-Fei Li, Hui-Min Zheng, Hui-Min Zheng, Jia-Ming Huan, Jie Yuan, Nicola Robinson, Nicola Robinson, Jian-Ping Liu, Yun-Lun Li, Yun-Lun Li, Yun-Lun Li

“…BackgroundChronic coronary syndromes (CCS) is a common clinical condition that increases the risk of cardiovascular events at any time. Tongxinluo capsules (TXL) are widely used in China for treating CCS.ObjectivesTo systematically evaluate the therapeutic effects and safety of adding TXL to Western medical treatment (WM) for CCS.MethodsWe searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang databases up to August 2024 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the therapeutic effects and safety of combining TXL with WM compared to WM alone for CCS. …”
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