Cognitive determinants of self-care behaviors among patients with heart failure: A path analysis

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a common clinical syndrome resulting from any structural or functional cardiac disorder that impairs the ability of ventricles to fill with or eject blood.Our aim in this study was to examine the possible direct/indirect effects of health belief model(HBM) constructs on self-care behaviors among HF patients.Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted on an HBM-based data set collected from 180 patients with HF who were recruited from a heart hospital in Tehran, Iran, during a prospective experimental study in 2008. A regression-based path analysis was conducted to examine the relationships between HBM constructs (as independent variables) and self-care behaviors (as dependent variable).Results: A conceptual path model was identified for the cognitive determinants of self-care behaviors among HF patients. Knowledge (β = 0.399), perceived barriers (β = 0.315) and susceptibility (β = 0.165) had direct effects on self-care (R2 = 0.512, P < 0.001). Perceived benefits, self-efficacy, severity and threat, locus of control and cues to action had indirect effects on self-care through the first three variables.Conclusion: HBM was found to be helpful in understanding direct and indirect associations between the cognitive determinants and self-care behaviors among HF patients. Based on this challenging path analysis, HF patients’ knowledge and perceived barriers and susceptibility are suggested as the most core categories while designing HF educational programs. Better understanding on such associations may lead nurses and health practitioners in designing properly informed stage-specific educational interventions aiming to foster self-care behaviors among HF patients

Public health effects of travel-related policies on the COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed-methods systematic review

Objectives: To map travel policies implemented due to COVID-19 during 2020, and conduct a mixed methods systematic review of health effects of such policies, and related contextual factors. Design: Policy mapping and systematic review. Data sources and Eligibility Criteria: for the policy mapping, we searched websites of relevant government bodies and used data from the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker for a convenient sample of 31 countries across different regions. For the systematic review, we searched Medline (Ovid), PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and COVID-19 specific databases. We included randomized controlled trial, non-randomized studies, modeling studies, and qualitative studies. Two independent reviewers selected studies, abstracted data and assessed risk of bias. Results: Most countries adopted a total border closure at the start of the pandemic. For the remainder of the year, partial border closure banning arrivals from some countries or regions was the most widely adopted measure, followed by mandatory quarantine and screening of travelers. The systematic search identified 69 eligible studies, including 50 modeling studies. Both observational and modeling evidence suggest that border closure may reduce the number of COVID-19 cases, disease spread across countries and between regions, and slow the progression of the outbreak. These effects are likely to be enhanced when implemented early, and when combined with measures reducing transmission rates in the community. Quarantine of travelers may decrease the number of COVID-19 cases but its effectiveness depends on compliance and enforcement and is more effective if followed by testing, especially when less than 14 day-quarantine is considered. Screening at departure and/or arrival is unlikely to detect a large proportion of cases or to delay an outbreak. Effectiveness of screening may be improved with increased sensitivity of screening tests, awareness of travelers, asymptomatic screening, and exit screening at country source. While four studies on contextual evidence found that the majority of the public is supportive of travel restrictions, they uncovered concerns about the unintended harms of those policies.Peer Reviewe

Immobilization of TiO2 nanoparticles on natural Luffa cylindrica fibers for photocatalytic applications

International audienc

Genetic variants in the TORC2 gene promoter and their association with body measurement and carcass quality traits in Qinchuan cattle.

The TORC2 gene is responsible for nutrient metabolism, gluconeogenesis, myogenesis and adipogenesis through the PI3K-Akt, AMPK, glucagon and insulin resistance signaling pathways. Sequencing of PCR amplicons explored three novel SNPs at loci g.16534694G>A, g.16535011C>T, and g.16535044A>T in the promoter region of the TORC2 gene in the Qinchuan breed of cattle. Allelic and genotypic frequencies of these SNPs deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) (P < 0.05). SNP1 genotype GG, SNP2 genotype CT and SNP3 genotype AT showed significantly (P <0.05) larger body measurement and improved carcass quality traits. Haplotype H1 (GCA) showed significantly (p<0.01) higher transcriptional activity (51.44%) followed by H4 (ATT) (34.13%) in bovine preadipocytes. The diplotypes HI-H3 (GG-CC-AT), H1-H2 (GG-CT-AT) and H3-H4 (GA-CT-TT) showed significant (P<0.01) associations with body measurement and improved carcass quality traits. Analysis of the relative mRNA expression level of the TORC2 gene in different tissues within two different age groups revealed a significant increase (P<0.01) in liver, small intestine, muscle and fat tissues with growth from calf stage to adult stage. We can conclude that variants mapped within TORC2 can be used in marker-assisted selection for carcass quality and body measurement traits in breed improvement programs of Qinchuan cattle

Risk of stroke in hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 infected patients: A multinational study

Background: There is an increased attention to stroke following SARS-CoV-2. The goal of this study was to better depict the short-term risk of stroke and its associated factors among SARS-CoV-2 hospitalized patients