Predictive abilities of acculturation for differences in self-rated health among international medical students from Medical University – Sofia

Despite the various theoretical frameworks of acculturation, the mechanisms by which acculturation affects health and well-being remain unclear. This cross-sectional study explores the role of acculturation in self-rated health (SRH) among international medical students. The study was conducted in 2024 at the Medical University – Sofia and included 326 participants. The Stephenson Multigroup Acculturation Scale (SMAS) was employed to assess cultural influences from both the host and home countries, focusing on two dimensions: Ethnic Society Immersion (ESI) and Dominant Society Immersion (DSI). SRH was measured using a five-category Likert scale. Covariates included perceived stress, social support, and health behaviour factors. Logistic binary regression was applied for analysis. The findings revealed that most international medical students rated their health as good (56.4%). Poor health was significantly associated (p < 0.05) with lower ESI (Mdn = 3.4), higher stress levels (Mdn = 22), and a lack (31.9%) or insufficiency (54.2%) of physical activity (PA). ESI emerged as a significant predictor of good health (Exp(B) = 0.403; p = 0.004). The impact of DSI on poor SRH was mediated by PA (Exp(B) = 4.629 and Exp(B) = 2.699, p < 0.05 for both risk groups). The results of this study can be useful in planning health and social services for international students, considering their specific needs

A new species of the genus Petrobia Murray (Prostigmata, Tetranychidae) and complementary description of Petrobia cardi Chaudhri

A new species, Petrobia (Petrobia) pakistanensis sp. nov. is described and collected, based on females form wild grasses, from Pakistan. the species P. (Tetranychina) cardi Chaudhri, W.M., 1972 is re-described and illustrated, based on femles and male.Petrobia (Petrobia) pakistanensis sp. nov. (Prostigmata, Tetranychidae) is described and illustrated, based on female specimens collected from wild grasses (Poaceae) from Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. The male of P. (Tetranychina) cardi Chaudhri, reported for the first time, is described and illustrated. Additionally, the complementary description of females of this species is provided, based on a new collection

Morpho-phylogenetic evidence reveals Pseudolomaantha thailandica gen. et sp. nov. and Submultiguttulispora multiseptata gen. et sp. nov. in Chaetosphaeriaceae

Anamorphic chaetosphaeriaceous fungi exhibit high morphological variability and are distributed worldwide across terrestrial and aquatic habitats. During an ongoing taxonomic study of microfungi, two intriguing chaetosphaeriaceous hyphomycetes were collected from dead wood and dead bamboo stems in China and Thailand. A polyphasic approach, combining morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis of LSU and ITS sequence data, revealed that these fungi represent two new genera within Chaetosphaeriaceae. Pseudolomaantha and Submultiguttulispora are proposed for these new genera, and they exhibit non-phialidic and phialidic asexual morphs, respectively. Pseudolomaantha thailandica gen. et sp. nov. is characterized by a sporidesmium-like asexual morph with macronematous, mononematous conidiophores; monoblastic conidiogenous cells, and pyriform to obclavate, rostrate conidia bearing an apical appendage. Submultiguttulispora multiseptata gen. et sp. nov. is distinguished by macronematous, mononematous conidiophores, mono- to polyphialidic conidiogenous cells, and fusiform or ellipsoidal-fusiform, pale brown to olive green to brown conidia with filiform, hyaline appendages at both ends. Detailed descriptions, illustrations, and notes on the new collections are provided, along with a key to non-phialidic hyphomycetous genera in Chaetosphaeriaceae

Economic, Social and Political Inequalities’ Impact on Health in the CIS Countries and the USA: Comparative Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare the impact of various types of inequalities on health differentials in the USA and CIS to define whether the given outcomes fit existing theories related to health. To reach that goal, we review the major existing theoretical explanations of the impact of inequalities on health, provide some major empirical research conducted in US and CIS countries to test these theories, elaborate on the conceptualizations of various types of inequality, provide a comparison between the researched countries, and outline the commonalities and specifics of the impact of inequalities to conduct future research. Special emphasis in the outlined prospective research is placed on the subjective assessments of one’s status and wellbeing, which are largely shaped by the culture of a given country and region

Clinical significance of human epididymis protein 4 (HE4), cancer antigen 125 (CA125), the risk of ovarian malignancy algorithm (ROMA), and Copenhagen index (CPH-I) for the diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma

Introduction: Endometrial carcinoma (EC) is the most common gynecological cancer among women, and in more than 90% of cases, the initial manifestation of the disease is postmenopausal bleeding. Unfortunately, despite early diagnosis and treatment, EC often recurs. Among the many serum tumor markers studied, human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) and cancer antigen 125 (CA125) show the most promise as tools for EC diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring. Aim: The aim of the current study was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of HE4 and CA125, tested either as single markers or in combination by including them in the Risk of Ovarian Malignancy Algorithms (ROMA) and in Copenhagen index (CPH-I). Material and methods: In this retrospective study, 1262 women (74 with confirmed EC) were included. The patients with EC had significantly higher values for HE4, CA125, ROMA, and CPH-I (p<0.001) than the healthy women and patients with benign diseases. The subgroup analysis based on the histological type of EC revealed that the highest markers and algorithms were recorded in type II EC group. Results: The ROC curve analysis showed that the best diagnostic performance for detecting EC among patients with benign diseases was the ROMA index (AUC=0.869; 95% CI: 0.818-0.920), followed by CPH-I (AUC=0.822; 95% CI: 0.757-0.887), and HE4 (AUC=0.816; 95% CI: 0.750-0.881). Tested alone, CA125 presented unsatisfactory results for this purpose. Both algorithms proved to have a correlation with the disease stage and progression better than the markers alone (HR=1.046 vs. HR=1.018). Conclusion: In summary, the ROMA index, CPH-I, and, to a lesser extent, standalone HE4 testing can supplement imaging methods as reliable tools for diagnosing and distinguishing patients with EC from those with benign conditions. They have potential as prognostic markers for advanced disease and could help gynecological oncologists to develop a therapeutic strategy

Portuguese terrestrial mammals in Portuguese Natural History Collections: an assessment of their taxonomic, geographic and temporal patterns

Natural History Collections (NHCs) constitute the world’s largest repositories of long-term biodiversity datasets and are fundamental in tackling the questions of modern science, amongst which is species conservation. To do so, NHCs rely on specimen collection and voucher deposition, which, in recent decades, have seen a drastic decline. As part of an ongoing project to review the Portuguese zoological collections in the country’s NHCs, mammal data from its three major museums and smaller collections were compiled and analysed to understand the coverage and representation of the different taxa extant in Portugal. We found that the collections are not taxonomically, geographically or temporally complete. Approximately 86% of Portuguese mammalian species are represented in the country’s NHCs, but more than two-thirds of the taxa are represented by less than 50 specimens. Geographically, the collections cover little over 40% of the country’s territory and more than half the occurring taxa have less than 10% of their known distributions represented in the collections. A third of the taxa represented in the collections is considered threatened, yet only accounts for 15% of all specimens. A review on the status of Portuguese mammal collections is presented here, as well as a call to attention on the implications of incomplete collections towards fundamental research

Tabanidae (Diptera) holotypes in the KwaZulu-Natal Museum collection: Part 2. Diachlorini and Tabanini

All primary (name-bearing) and secondary types (paratypes) of Bartolomeudiasiella, Cydistomyia and Limata within the tribe Diachlorini and Hybomitra, Tabanus and Therioplectes within the tribe Tabanini, deposited in the KwaZulu-Natal Museum (NMSA) are documented: Cydistomyia (Amanella) cooksoni Usher, 1965; Cydistomyia (Amanella) grayi (Oldroyd, 1957), comb. nov.; Cydistomyia (Amanella) ignota Usher, 1965; Cydistomyia (Amanella) ingridina Usher, 1965; Cydistomyia (Amanella) shaka Usher, 1970; Cydistomyia (Amanella) zimbiti Usher, 1970; Limata kuhnelti Usher, 1967 [now Bartolomeudiasiella kuhnelti (Usher, 1967)]; Limata miranda Usher, 1968; Limata parafacialis Oldroyd, 1957; Tabanus crocodilinus Austen, 1912; Tabanus flavicoxa Usher, 1954; Tabanus nefas Usher, 1971; Tabanus postacutus Oldroyd, 1947; Tabanus saxicolus Usher, 1965 [now Hybomitra saxicolus (Usher, 1965)]; Therioplectes zumpti (Dias, 1956). The reference to the original publication, including the original name, the type locality and the collector, is provided for each species. In addition, brief remarks and colour photographs are provided. This is the second in a series of publications on the primary types of the Tabanidae of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum

Exploratory analysis of molecular traits of the mitochondrial DNA of leafcutting ants to infer taxonomic characters towards an integrative taxonomy

Accurate systematic classification of biodiversity is fundamental for ecological and evolutionary studies, especially in a world where biodiversity is increasingly reduced and threatened. In the present study we propose using exploratory analysis of genetic markers to obtain additional information from the comparison of sequences among species as molecular traits (MTs). These molecular traits can in turn provide independent information for integrative taxonomy, aiding genus-level circumscriptions. Therefore, we use the leafcutting ant genera Amoimyrmex Cristiano et al., 2020, Atta Fabricius, 1804 and Acromyrmex Mayr, 1865 as models to evaluate a mitochondrial genome fragment regularly applied in phylogenetic and evolutionary studies. Bioinformatic analysis revealed shared structural evidence between species that can serve as diagnostic characters, distinguishing them from other species and supporting the classification of the three genera of leafcutting ants. The molecular features of the mitogenome segments, along with other traits such as chromosome number, karyotype features, molecular phylogeny, and morphological data can be used in an integrative framework to access biodiversity and purpose taxonomic hypothesis

A new species of Pseudodendroides Blair, 1914 (Coleoptera, Pyrochroidae, Pyrochroinae) from China, with a key to the species

Pseudodendroides Blair, 1914 is distributed in East Asia, with five described species. Currently, a new species, Pseudodendroides frontalis Gao & Pan, sp. nov., is described and illustrated from Yunnan Province, China. A key to the species of Pseudodendroides is provided and the phylogenetic relationships among Pseudodendroides and related genera are briefly discussed

A new skink of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 (Squamata, Scincidae) from Son La Province, northwestern Vietnam

A new species of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 is described from northern Vietnam based on morphological and molecular evidence. Scincella truongi sp. nov. is characterized by a combination of the following characters: size medium (SVL up to 59.4 mm); primary temporals 2; external ear opening without lobules; loreals two; supralabials seven or eight; infralabials six or seven; nuchals in three pairs; midbody scales in 28 rows; dorsal scales smooth, in six rows across the back; paravertebral scales 60–67, not widened; ventral scales in 60–70 rows; ten smooth lamellae beneath finger IV and 13–15 beneath toe IV; toes not reaching to fingers when limbs adpressed along body; dorsal surface of body and tail bronze brown with few black spots, a dark stripe running from nostril to eye and extending from posterior corner of eye along upper part of flank to the middle of the tail. In the phylogenetic analyses, the new species is recovered as an independent lineage with no clear sister taxon and at least 17.3% genetic divergence from other species in the genus based on a fragment of the mitochondrial COI gene