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We examined the association between influenza vaccination policies at acute care hospitals and influenza vaccination coverage among healthcare personnel for the 2021–22 influenza season. Mandatory vaccination and masking for unvaccinated personnel were associated with increased odds of vaccination. Hospital employees had higher vaccination coverage than licensed independent practitioners.

Premise of the study: We investigated how the \"living rock\" cactus Ariocarpus fissuratus, like other low-growing desert plants, can endure potentially lethal high temperatures at the soil surface. Specifically, we examined how shoot descent by root contraction in the presence or absence of soil rocks influences shoot temperatures and transpiration. Methods: Root contraction was identified by measuring shoot descent and anatomical analysis. Temperatures and transpiration were measured for plants at two heights in sandy and rocky soil, and temperature tolerances were determined by vital staining. Key results: Plants embedded in rocky soil survived an extreme heat episode, unlike plants in sandy soil, though rocks did not moderate low temperatures. Root contraction occurred regardless of season and soil moisture. Xylem conduits (wide-band tracheids) formed a compressible lattice that decreased root length as rays enlarged the root base radially. Plant position in the soil did not affect transpiration. Conclusions: Contractile roots pulled plants of A. fissuratus into the soil at rates of 6–30 mm yr⁻¹. Maintaining shoots level with the soil surface kept plant temperatures below the high lethal temperature and improved survivorship in soil shaded by surface rocks.

Background: Inappropriate antibiotic use impacts patient safety and antimicrobial resistance patterns. In 2013, general dentists in the U.S. prescribed nearly 10% of all outpatient oral antibiotics (24.5 million prescriptions). The American Dental Association (ADA) published guidelines in 2019 recommending limited antibiotic prescribing for the treatment of dental pain and swelling. We characterized dental prescribing during 2018–2022 to assess whether antibiotic use decreased after the guideline’s release. In addition, we examined access to dental care. Methods: All antibiotic prescriptions dispensed during 2018–2022 were extracted from the IQVIA Xponent database, which captured ≥92% of all U.S. outpatient prescriptions and projected to 100% coverage. Prescriptions by general dentists were compared to total outpatient oral antibiotic prescriptions and summarized by patient sex, patient age, and prescriber geographic region. Census denominators were used to calculate prescribing rates per 1,000 persons. IQVIA general dentist counts were used to calculate dentists per 100,000 persons. Results: General dentists prescribed 24.7 million antibiotic prescriptions in 2018 (75 prescriptions per 1,000 persons) compared with 25.2 million (76 prescriptions per 1,000 persons) in 2022. During 2020–2022, general dentists prescribed >10% of all outpatient antibiotic prescriptions (range 10.7%–12.1%). In each year, prescription rates were higher for females, patients > 65 years, and among prescribers in the Northeast. In 2022, there were 58 general dentists per 100,000 persons in the United States. The highest general dentist rate was in District of Columbia (100 per 100,000 persons) and the lowest rate was in Delaware (41 per 100,000 persons). Conclusions: Despite the ADA’s 2019 guidelines, prescribing by general dentists remained stable during 2018–2022. Because the total number of antibiotic prescriptions overall decreased, general dentists’ share of all outpatient antibiotic prescriptions increased to >10% in recent years. Rate variation by patient characteristics and prescriber region may reflect differences in dental disease burden or may represent unnecessary antibiotic use. Dental antibiotic stewardship is needed, including dissemination and implementation of current prescribing guidelines. Further evaluation of prescribing indications and access to dental care is needed to inform dental stewardship priorities.

Inhibition of human pancreatic lipase, a crucial enzyme in dietary fat digestion and absorption, is a potent therapeutic approach for obesity treatment. In this study, human pancreatic lipase inhibitory activity of aurone derivatives was explored by molecular modeling approaches. The target protein was human pancreatic lipase (PDB ID: 1LPB). The 3D structures of 82 published bioactive aurone derivatives were docked successfully into the protein catalytic active site, using AutoDock Vina 1.5.7.rc1. Of them, 62 compounds interacted with the key residues of catalytic trial Ser152-Asp176-His263. The top hit compound (A14), with a docking score of −10.6 kcal⋅mol−1, was subsequently submitted to molecular dynamics simulations, using GROMACS 2018.01. Molecular dynamics simulation results showed that A14 formed a stable complex with 1LPB protein via hydrogen bonds with important residues in regulating enzyme activity (Ser152 and Phe77). Compound A14 showed high potency for further studies, such as the synthesis, in vitro and in vivo tests for pancreatic lipase inhibitory activity.

Xao tam phan (Paramignya trimera (Oliv.) Guillaum) is a medicinal plant native to Vietnam, that is renowned for its therapeutic properties, particularly for the treatment of various ailments, including cancer. This study investigated in vitro propagation of P. trimera through somatic embryogenesis and shoot organogenesis using leaf callus. Various culture media, plant growth regulators, malt extract, and carbon sources were evaluated to optimize callus induction and somatic embryo formation from leaf explants. DNA barcoding confirmed 96.96% to 100% homology with P. trimera specimens from Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam. The highest callus formation rate, reaching 100%, was observed in one-year-old explants cultured in Woody Plant Medium (WPM) supplemented with 2.0 mg L-1 naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) and 0.2 mg L-1 benzylaminopurine (BAP) in the dark for over six weeks. In WPM supplemented with 30 g L-1 sucrose, 4.0 mg L-1 BAP, and 500 mg L-1 malt extract, globular stage embryos developed into embryoids and shoots and buds clumped at 10 and 18 weeks, respectively. Shoot organogenesis was observed in WPM supplemented with 30 g L-1 sucrose and 0.07 mg L-1 thidiazuron (TDZ) after 18 weeks of culture. Genetic fidelity assessments using 12 SCoT markers indicated that in vitro plantlets were homologous to the mother plant. This study provides a viable method for the conservation and sustainable cultivation of Xao tam phan, ensuring a stable supply of this valuable medicinal resource.

In this study, vinyltrimethoxysilane-treated hydroxyapatite (vHAP) and PMMA-grafted HAP (gHAP) were successfully prepared from original HAP (oHAP). Three kinds of HAP (oHAP, vHAP and g HAP) were used as additives for the preparation of three groups of HAP-modified PMMA bone cements (oHAP-BC, vHAP-BC and gHAP-BC). The setting, bending and compression properties of the bone cements were conducted according to ISO 5833:2002. The obtained results showed that the maximum temperature while curing the HAP-modified bone cements (HAP-BCs) decreased from 64.9 to 60.8 °C and the setting time increased from 8.1 to 14.0 min, respectively, with increasing HAP loading from 0 to 15 wt.%. The vHAP-BC and gHAP-BC groups exhibited higher mechanical properties than the required values in ISO 5833. Electron microscopy images showed that the vHAP and gHAP nanoparticles were dispersed better in the polymerized PMMA matrix than the oHAP nanoparticles. FTIR analysis indicated the polar interaction between the PO4 groups of the HAP nanoparticles and the ester groups of the polymerized PMMA matrix. Thermal gravimetric analysis indicated that mixtures of ZrO2/HAPs were not able to significantly improve the thermal stability of the HAP-BCs. DSC diagrams showed that the incorporation of gHAP to PMMA bone cement with loadings lower than 10 wt.% can increase Tg by about 2.4 °C.

Infections with community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) are emerging worldwide. We investigated an outbreak of severe CA-MRSA infections in children following out-patient vaccination. We carried out a field investigation after adverse events following immunization (AEFI) were reported. We reviewed the clinical data from all cases. S. aureus recovered from skin infections and from nasal and throat swabs were analyzed by pulse-field gel electrophoresis, multi locus sequence typing, PCR and microarray. In May 2006, nine children presented with AEFI, ranging from fatal toxic shock syndrome, necrotizing soft tissue infection, purulent abscesses, to fever with rash. All had received a vaccination injection in different health centres in one District of Ho Chi Minh City. Eight children had been vaccinated by the same health care worker (HCW). Deficiencies in vaccine quality, storage practices, or preparation and delivery were not found. Infection control practices were insufficient. CA-MRSA was cultured in four children and from nasal and throat swabs from the HCW. Strains from children and HCW were indistinguishable. All carried the Panton-Valentine leukocidine (PVL), the staphylococcal enterotoxin B gene, the gene complex for staphylococcal-cassette-chromosome mec type V, and were sequence type 59. Strain HCM3A is epidemiologically unrelated to a strain of ST59 prevalent in the USA, although they belong to the same lineage. We describe an outbreak of infections with CA-MRSA in children, transmitted by an asymptomatic colonized HCW during immunization injection. Consistent adherence to injection practice guidelines is needed to prevent CA-MRSA transmission in both in- and outpatient settings.

Human detection is a popular issue and has been widely used in many applications. However, including complexities in computation, leading to the human detection system implemented hardly in real-time applications. This paper presents the architecture of hardware, a human detection system that was simulated in the ModelSim tool. As a co-processor, this system was built to off-load to Central Processor Unit (CPU) and speed up the computation timing. The 130x66 RGB pixels of static input image attracted features and classify by using the Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) algorithm and Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm, respectively. As a result, the accuracy rate of this system reaches 84.35 percent. And the timing for detection decreases to 0.757 ms at 50MHz frequency (54 times faster when this system was implemented in software by using the Matlab tool).

An alternative way of preserving surplus guava could be to ferment the juice to fruit wine. [...]we explored a wine fermentation from guava by focusing on the effect of different parameters such as pectinase concentration and time of treatment for juice extraction, yeast inculate for wine fermentation, and secondary fermentation to wine quality. The value of ascorbic acid was higher in red guava, which indicated that the red pulp variety is richer in vitamin C. Isolation of pectin displayed that the white variety of guava exhibited more amount of pectin than the red one (Jyoti D. Vora et al., 2018). High rate wastage of this fruit especially at its peak of production season necessitates the need for alternative preservation and post harvest technologies towards its value addition that can reduce the level of post harvest losses besides increasing diversity of wine. [...]we utilized this fruit as subtrate for wine fermentation. Mature and ripe guavaes with their high composition of fermentable reducing sugars such as glucose, sucrose and fructose could serve as substrates for fruit wine production using wine yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), thus transforming a perishable products to more stable and value added product. [...]production of wine from this fruit can help increase wine variety and reduce post-harvest losses.