Scientific Research Publishing

Delirium is a serious disturbance in mental abilities that results in confused thinking and reduced awareness of the environment. The start of delirium is usually rapid — within hours or a few days. It is also a high prevalent postoperative complication in older cardiac surgery patients. An occurring delirium can have drastic long term consequences for the patient, like prolonged (months) functional (activity of daily live) dependency, an enormous fear because of occurring hallucinations, increased morbidity and mortality. Consequently, a delirium increases patient burden, healthcare demand and healthcare costs. Preventive interventions, diagnosis and treatment of delirium require specialized knowledge and skills. Since nurses play a key role in hospital care, a successful implementation of nursing interventions for prevention, early and accurate diagnosis and treatment of delirium in older surgery patients is important. In this study, the authors aimed to gain insight in opinio...

Iron (Fe) is an essential element for plants; however, plants face Fe deficiency in neutral and alkaline soils because ferric iron, despite being abundant in the Earth’s crust, is almost insoluble and therefore unavailable to plant roots. A potentially important aspect of Fe deficiency is its relationship to the availability and uptake of other metal ions. Copper (Cu) is also an essential element for plants, being involved in various redox reactions, including electron transfer; however, the toxicity of excess Cu to organisms has been widely recognized because Cu produces reactive oxygen species such as hydroxyl radicals, which cause oxidative damage to lipids, proteins and DNA, resulting in cellular deterioration. Hyoscyamus albus (Solanaceae, white henbane) is an annual or biennial plant growing on the Continent, particularly in France and in Indian subcontinent, and used as a source of hyoscyamine, which is an important anticholinergic drug of plant origin. In this paper...

Mammals are equipped with an immune system in which antibodies from mothers transfer to children through the placenta and breast milk. These antibodies are called migratory antibodies and are responsible for protecting young children with an incomplete immune function against infection. In egg-laying animals, such as birds, migratory antibodies can be transferred from mothers to their eggs, thereby protecting their offspring. Even in domestic chickens, migratory antibodies from mothers are useful for defense against various infectious diseases, and the mother’s immune status determines the susceptibility of chicks to infection. Highly pathogenic avian influenza is the most feared infectious disease in poultry, and in recent years, a number of infectious and death cases have been reported in humans as well, mainly in Southeast Asia. In avian flu-free countries, vaccination is not conducted, and if infection occurs, all suspected infected chickens must be disposed, which causes a la...

It is well known that over-the-counter analgesics can be effective for adolescents in providing relief from various symptoms. The most widely consumed over-the-counter drugs are analgesics (OTCAs). Evidence from Europe, including Norway, and United States, shows that usage of over-the counter (OTC) analgesics among adolescents is considerable. Furthermore, statistics indicate that the level of usage is on an increasing trend. Increased usage of analgesics could be a reason for concern as usage of analgesic medications purchased over the counter is not necessarily harmless. And it has been noted that females tend to have a higher usage compared to males. In this paper, the authors explored this gender difference. The dataset consisted of 284,674 from Norwegian adolescents attending junior high school and high school between 2014 and 2017. The econometric approach consisted of applying ordered logistic regressions with usage of OTC analgesics as the dependent variable and a dich...

Fluvial inflows carry significant amounts of nutrients, affecting especially continental platform regions, which act as a final recipient of these waters and have a major impact on the phytoplankton community structure. The dynamic structure resulting from this process is a mass of floating water with density lower than that of coastal waters, called a river plume. Primary production and chlorophyll a concentrations are always dependent on synergistic effects among meteorological, physical, chemical and biological factors that limit or stimulate the activity of photosynthetic planktonic organisms. The aim of this work was to analyze the distribution of oceanographic parameters, chlorophyll a and primary productivity under the influence of the Amazon River plume, during the period of greatest extension of the Amazon plume. Collections were carried out in the “Camadas Finas V” oceanographic campaign held in September/2014 at 16 stations along the continental shelf of the Amazon ...

Diabetes is a seriously chronic disease which occurs with the pancreas failure to produce enough insulin (hormone regulating blood sugar content, or glucose), or when the body fails to use insulin properly that it produces. It has been a major public health problem in low and middle-income countries. Some studies have shown that the implementation of simple lifestyle and adoption of obesity control interventions, healthy and balanced diet, and regular physical activity may significantly reduce the magnitude of this chronic disease. In this study, the authors estimated prevalence and factors associated with hyperglycemia in Benin, and 2) assessed the treatment quality of diabetes.  A cross-sectional research was conducted with two components. The First component has included 4954 subjects aged (18 - 69) randomly selected in Mono/Couffo and Donga regions. Data were collected according to WHO’s STEPS approach. Capillary blood glucose was measured using the automat Cardiocheck®...

Traditional soy foods produced in Asia are known to have lipid metabolism-modulating effects. Soy protein and isoflavones are the major bioactive components in soy foods. Clinical analyses and meta-analyses have demonstrated the lipid metabolism-modulating effects of combined isoflavones and soy protein. Soymilk is the simplest soy food, but some individuals find the flavor unpalatable. Thus, we used soymilk fermented by lactic acid bacteria of vegetable origin to make its flavor more palatable. Lactic acid fermentation converts the isoflavone glycosides in soymilk to isoflavone aglycones, enhancing their absorption in the intestine. Previous studies have shown that isoflavone aglycone-rich soymilk fermented by Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. delbrueckii , strain TUA-4408L (F4408) has stronger lipid metabolism-modulating effects than isoflavone aglycone-poor soymilk fermented by Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. delbrueckii , strain TUA-4404L (F4404). As such, fermentation produ...

Health and well-being are commonly needed to achieve a sufficient or satisfactory level of existence, and they are essential concepts for health promotion. Furthermore, health has been defined as a positive dynamic process and not merely an extension of illness-avoidance behavior. A health-promoting lifestyle is a multidimensional pattern of self-initiated actions and perceptions that serve to maintain or enhance an individual’s level of wellness, self-actualization, and fulfillment. Practicing daily health-promoting lifestyle behaviors is an important component of maintaining and improving health. The present study examined the factorial structure and assesses the psychometric properties of the adapted multidimensional Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II) Scale, considering a sample of Italian university students who participated to an online survey. The study was conducted in the middle of the 2015-2016 academic year (around 75 days) to avoid seasonal holidays and...

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is amongst others characterized by a persistent severe fatigue, diminished exercise tolerance, post exertional malaise, muscle pain, sleep disorders and memory and concentration impairment. Furthermore, a prominent feature is that patients with ME/CFS often complain about dizziness and/or light headedness both while exercising and at rest. Four studies have compared a possible decrease in circulating blood volume in Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) patients when compared to a healthy population. A more recent study has proven a correlation between RBC volume and OI in chronic OI patients without being diagnosed ME/CFS. The aim of the present study was to relate measured blood, RBC and plasma volumes (absolute and percent normalized) with the orthostatic intolerance complaints in ME/CFS patients. Eleven female ME/CFS patients were studied from early 2010 till early 2011. Patients underwent t...

Surgical safety has emerged as a crucial health issue in the past two decades, requiring increased financial and research investments. In this paper, the authors retrospectively analyzed incident reports from surgeons to learn about surgical patient safety and improve surgical quality.  For the 10 years and 3 months between February 2007 and May 2017, 236 incident reports from surgeons were collected. The impact levels of the incidents for patients were represented by a degree of adverse influence to a patient (level 0, 1, 2, 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, and 5). The outcome of the incident reports was evaluated by the profile, cause, surgery-relation, and factor.  The data in this study were analyzed by breakdown of the stratified analysis, distribution of numbers, and ratio. The level of incidents resulted in level 0 (n = 18, 7.6%), level 1 (n = 28, 11.9%), level 2 (n = 16, 6.8%), level 3a (n = 44, 18.6%), level 3b (n = 94, 39.8%), level 4a (n = 1, 0.4%), level 4b (n = 6, 2.5%), ...

Obesity and underweight can cause a number of health problems. And both obesity and underweight are associated with lifestyle, such as eating and exercise habits. Eating habits are related to the intake of energy and nutrients, and exercise habits are related to the consumption of energy and nutrients. In fact, young adulthood is a time when eating behaviors can become disturbed. In general, women want to lose weight, and men want to gain weight in the form of muscle. Therefore, a convenient tool to assess characteristics of eating behavior in young adulthood is needed in order to promote a healthy diet. The purposes of this study were to develop an eating behavior scale (EBS) for Japanese young adults and to compare eating behaviors between men and women. The participants of this study were 794 Japanese undergraduate students (404 men, and 390 women) aged under 30 years old, who belonged to the faculties of medicine, health sciences, social welfare, education, or the medical ...

Open abdomen is an abdominal wall defect created by intentionally leaving an abdominal incision open at the completion of intra-abdominal surgery or by opening (or reopening) the abdomen. Open abdomen can also be the result of injuries to the abdominal wall that produce significant soft tissue defects. Currently, multiple concentrations of hypochlorous (HOCL) acid solutions have effectively decreased the microbiotic burden in wounds. In this paper, the authors hypothesized that Vashe ® , a neutral hypochlorous acid solution (V-HOCL), would be safe as an intraperitoneal irrigation or washout disinfectant for septic open abdomens utilizing negative pressure wound therapy. They conducted a retrospective observational pilot study (January 2017-January 2018) to determine the feasibility of utilizing V-HOCL as a washout or irrigant for septic open abdomen. Hypochlorous acid was used in surgical patients with either open abdomens who required abdominal washouts during surgery or who...

Since body fluids have a buffering capacity, the pH levels inside and outside the cells are maintained. The intake of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO 3 ) increases the pH level in the blood, and it regulates the speed in which the body becomes acidic during exercise. In this study, the authors investigated the effect of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO 3 ) supplementation at a dose of 0.2 g·kg −1  40 min before an exercise on intermittent endurance performance and gastrointestinal distress. The participants were six healthy male students of a university (age: 21.8 ± 0.75 years old, height: 170.5 ± 4.68 cm, and weight: 68.0 ± 9.25 kg). The experiments were conducted twice at 1-week interval. The Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 2 (Yo-Yo IR2) was used for the evaluation of intermittent endurance. The participants ingested water (Cont) or NaHCO 3  independently at three timings. After drinking water, the Yo-Yo IR1 was performed for 2 min as warm-up. After resting for 5 min, the Yo...