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Hepatitis B virus is a global health concern with a high death rate in Afghanistan. Limited data exist on the disease's impact on quality of life in low‐resource settings. This case–control study aims to identify potential risk factors and assess the quality of life among hepatitis B patients in Herat, Afghanistan, with a focus on sex differences. Understanding these factors can inform prevention, care, and sex‐specific interventions. A cross‐sectional study conducted at Herat Regional Hospital examined hepatitis B patients above 18 years old, between October 2020 and February 2021. The control group consisted of age and sex‐matched individuals without a history of hepatitis B. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire covering socio‐demographic characteristics, signs and symptoms of hepatitis B, and the SF‐36 questionnaire for measuring the quality of life of study participants. Statistical analysis was performed using multivariate General Linear Models, and logistic regression. We identified several potential risk factors for hepatitis B infection, including male sex, younger age groups, tobacco use, lower education levels, rural residence, family history, weak social networks, specific family structures and underlying chronic diseases (p < .05). The study found that hepatitis B cases had significantly lower mean scores across all SF‐36 components, indicating an overall reduced quality of life (p < .05). These differences were more pronounced in males, although females had lower scores in most components. Role limitations due to physical and emotional health were particularly affected. These findings highlight the urgent need for targeted interventions, sex‐specific strategies, improved healthcare access and comprehensive policies. These findings can inform prevention efforts to improve the overall quality of life of people with hepatitis B in Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many clinical evidences have reported the higher risk of seizure in young children and infants after exposure to hyperthermia, which more likely can cause brain damage and affect cognitive function, so, many researches were focused on prevention or treatment of febrile seizure (FS) with minimal adverse effects. Considering the potential effects of oxidative stress as a prominent trigger in FS, and demonstrating the anti‐oxidant effects of metformin, the present study aimed to investigate the protective effect of metformin administration in prenatal and lactation periods in rat pups exposed to hyperthermia by which induced seizure. Method and materials: Pregnant rats were divided into six groups: (1) vehicle: pregnant rats received normal saline during pregnancy and lactation; (2) FS: pregnant rats received normal saline during pregnancy and lactation; (3–5) FS‐Met50/100/150 mg/kg: pregnant rats received different doses of metformin including 50, 100 and 150 mg/kg during pregnancy and lactation; (6) Met150 mg/kg: pregnant rats received Met150 mg/kg during pregnancy and lactation. The male pups born to mothers received in all FS groups exposed to hyperthermia. All experimental groups were allowed to grow up, and after the lactation period, they were subjected for behavioural tests and biochemical analysis. Results: According to the present findings, the prenatal and lactation exposure to the highest dose of metformin demonstrated significant difference with FS group in both behavioural and biochemical test analyses. Although the remaining doses of metformin were also effective, the much better results were reported with the highest dose of metformin (150 mg/kg). Interestingly, the highest dose of metformin administered alone demonstrated better result than vehicle in probe trial test. Conclusion: Considering the present research and related study in relation to metformin in ameliorating the epilepsy symptoms, there are numerous evidences on positive effect of metformin on seizure. Although the exact mechanism is unclear, the anti‐oxidant effect of metformin is strongly supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Procurement operations in forest companies are exposed to various risks, which may increase procurement costs. Examples of risks are the contract's unreliability and contract breach. Deterministic planning models cannot perfectly reflect the complexities of real‐world applications in the presence of sourcing risks when the future is uncertain. In practice, forest industries use contracts to guarantee the wood supply. Monthly forecasts are prepared for the delivery volume and are primarily based on the experience of procurement staff and the total volume of contracts. Missed deliveries in the contracts lead to a mismatch between the supply and demand for wood fiber and increase the costs of procurement as a result of high inventory costs or expensive purchases from the open market. Previous studies on simulating the impact of sourcing risks on procurement operations have been conducted; however, none have addressed the selection of procurement contracts in the presence of sourcing risks. In forest industry, numerous suppliers are available with sourcing contracts. Each contract possesses its own characteristics such as flexibility, volume, schedule, and price of delivery. A Monte Carlo simulation approach is implemented to analyze the behavior of a deterministic planning approach. Random events are generated by formulating different types of sourcing risks, having either short‐ or long‐term impact. The simulation is embedded with a deterministic planning model in each period. Results showed that management of sourcing risks is easier with flexible contracts than with fixed contracts, despite their higher purchasing cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Among various solid tumours, gastric cancer (GC) is one of the leading causes of cancer‐related deaths worldwide. Expansion into the peritoneal cavity, which results from dissemination of diffuse cancer cells, is the main cause of mortality in gastric adenocarcinoma patients. Therefore, investigation of putative biomarkers involved in metastasis is prerequisite for GC management. In an effort to discover potential tumour markers associated with peritoneal metastasis of GC, a semi‐synthetic human scFv library (Tomlinson I) was used to isolate novel antibody fragments recognizing MKN‐45, a poorly differentiated diffuse gastric adenocarcinoma cell line. Four rounds of subtractive selection each consisting of extensive pre‐absorption of phage library with NIH‐3T3 murine embryonic fibroblasts and AGS (a well‐differentiated intestinal gastric adenocarcinoma) cell line were carried out prior to positive selection on MKN‐45 target cells. ELISA‐based screening of 192 phage‐displayed scFv clones indicated 21 high‐affinity binders with specific staining of MKN‐45 compared with AGS cells. Diversity analysis of the selected phage‐scFvs resulted in five distinct sequences with multiple frequency. Further analysis by ELISA and flow cytometry verified three clones that specifically recognized MKN‐45 cells. Liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry analysis of the scFv‐immunoprecipitated proteins has led to identification of c‐Met, HSP90 α and HSP90 β as candidate biomarkers associated with diffuse GC. Immunohistochemistry revealed the capability of purified scFvs to differentiate diffuse and intestinal gastric adenocarcinoma. Taken together, the isolated MKN‐45‐specific scFv fragments and their cognate antigens would be beneficial in screening and management as well as targeting and therapy of the diffuse gastric adenocarcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution of immune checkpoint receptors in the immunopathogenesis of various autoimmune diseases has been addressed in previous reports. In this study,  the expression profile of T‐cell immunoglobulin and mucin‐domain containing‐3 (Tim‐3) and programmed cell death‐1 (PD‐1) checkpoint molecules was investigated in CD8+ T cells of Vitiligo patients. The association of Tim‐3 and PD‐1 expression with disease activity was also explored. The frequency of Tim‐3+/PD‐1+/CD8+ T cells in 30 patients with vitiligo and 30 sex‐ and age‐matched controls was determined by flow cytometry. CD8+ T cells were then positively isolated by magnetic beads, and the mRNA expression of PD‐1 and Tim‐3 was determined by TaqMan‐based real‐time PCR. To measure the cytokines production, PBMCs were stimulated with PMA/ionomycin and concentrations of IL‐4, IFN‐γ and TNF‐α were measured in culture supernatants by ELISA. Disease activity of patients with vitiligo was determined using the Vitiligo Area Severity Index. Patients with vitiligo have significantly shown more expression of Tim‐3 and PD‐1 on their CD8+ T cells compared with controls. Expression analysis of Tim‐3 mRNA, but not PD‐1, confirmed the results obtained from flow cytometry. While the production levels of TNF‐α and IFN‐γ were found higher by patients with vitiligo, IL‐4 production was lower in patients compared with controls. A direct association was observed between the Tim‐3 and PD‐1 expression and also the production of pro‐inflammatory cytokines with disease activity of patients with vitiligo. Our results indicate that Tim‐3 and PD‐1 are involved in immune dysregulation mechanisms of CD8+ T cells in vitiligo and may introduce as potential biomarkers for disease progression and targeted immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Populous Euphratica tree which belongs to Salicaceae family is naturally distributed in many parts of the world. Our purpose was to compare the therapeutic effects of smoke of its burnt leaves with conventional cryotherapy in patients with warts. Methods Sixty consecutive wart patients were randomly treated with leaves of Populous Euphratica tree (Group A) or conventional cryotherapy (Group B) and were followed up for 22 weeks. Results The respective end results in group A and group B were; Complete cure rates 66.7% vs. 46.4% ( P= NS), partial resolution rates 8.3% vs. 14.3% ( P= NS). The recurrence rate however, was 4.2% in group A and 32.2% in group B patients ( P= 0.024). Conclusion The smoke of burnt leaves of Populus Euphratica tree can be equally effective for treatment of hand and foot warts as cryotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate that the solvation‐layer interface condition (SLIC) continuum dielectric model for molecular electrostatics, combined with a simple solvent‐accessible‐surface‐area (SASA)‐proportional model for nonpolar solvent effects, accurately predicts solvation entropies of neutral and charged small molecules. The SLIC/SASA model has only seven fitting parameters in total and achieves this accuracy using a training set with only 20 compounds. Despite this simplicity, solvation free energies and entropies are nearly as accurate as those predicted by the more sophisticated Langevin dipoles solvation model. Surprisingly, the model automatically reproduces the negligible contribution of electrostatics to the solvation of hydrophobic compounds. Opportunities for improvement include nonpolar solvation, anion solvation entropies, and heat capacities. More molecular realism may be needed for these quantities. To enable a future, explicit‐solvent‐based assessment of the SLIC/SASA implicit‐solvent model, we predict solvation entropies for the Mobley test set, which are available as Supporting Information. Nucleoside analogues are molecules that differ from the canonical ones in that they are comprised of a non‐canonical DNA base, sugar, or both. Interactions between nucleoside analogues and solvent molecules are proposed as the main responsible for their conformational transformations, which were studied both experimentally and computationally. The evidence of these transformations is provided by time‐dependent infrared spectra and made apparent by the variation of intensity related to a specific stereoisomer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hospitals identify the type of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery admission as routine, urgent, or emergency, and identify CABG admissions as elective, from another hospital, from a long-term healthcare facility, and an admission that results from an emergency room visit. No research has analyzed the importance of these admission characteristics on CABG outcomes., Methods: Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project database for 1998 through 2002, 1.7 million CABG admissions are analyzed using descriptive and logistic regression techniques to evaluate the extent of differences in in-hospital CABG mortality rates by the type of admission and the source of admission., Results: While there has been 22% decline over our 5-year study period regardless of the source or type of admission, we find that a 2.5-fold difference exists in the in-hospital CABG mortality rates among categories that distinguish the type of admission and the source of admission in the nation's hospital. In 2002, CABG admissions that are routine elective-surgeries have a CABG mortality rate of 1.49%, while urgent CABG admissions from a long-term care facility have an in-hospital mortality rate that is 3.64%., Conclusions: While significant progress has been made lowering in-hospital CABG mortality, sizable differences still remain among the types and sources of CABG admissions. Clinical trial research on CABG patients where the end points include mortality need to be especially mindful of the potential differences and distortions in their data that can be generated due to these various sources of hospital admissions.