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Objectives: Although there are calls for women's empowerment and gender equity globally, there are still large disparities regarding women's autonomy in healthcare decision making. The autonomy of women is believed to be crucial in improving their health-related outcomes. This review discusses factors that influence autonomy among women in healthcare decision making., Design: Systematic review., Data Sources: PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus were searched from 2017-2022., Eligibility Criteria: The inclusion criteria include original articles, case studies and reports that has been written in the English Language, while manuscripts with no full article, reviews, newspaper reports, grey literatures, and articles that did not answer the review objectives were excluded., Data Extraction and Synthesis: We carried out data extraction using a standardized data extraction form, that has been organized using Microsoft Excel. A narrative synthesis was carried out to combine the findings of all included articles., Results: A total of 70 records were identified and 18 were reviewed, yielding eight articles to be included in the accepted list of studies. All studies were conducted in developing countries and most of the studies were cross sectional. Factors that were associated with women's autonomy in healthcare decision making were age, women's education and occupation, husbands'/partners' education and occupation, residential location or region of residence, household wealth index as well as culture and religion., Conclusions: Identification of these factors may help stakeholders in improving women's autonomy in healthcare decision making. Policymakers play a crucial role in healthcare decision making by enacting laws and policies that protect women's rights, promoting gender-sensitive healthcare services, ensuring access to comprehensive information, promoting health education, and supporting vulnerable populations. These efforts ensure women's autonomy including able to access to unbiased and effective healthcare services., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Prostate cancer (Pca) is one of the most prevalent health conditions affecting men, particularly older men, and cases have increased in recent years., Objective: This review examined the survival rate and prognostic factors of patients with Pca in Southeast Asia (SEA)., Methods: We conducted a systematic search of three databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science) and a manual search until April 1, 2022. The selected papers were evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Form for Cohort Studies. The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022326521). Pooled prevalence rates were calculated using the programme R version 4.2.1. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 statistic and p-value. A narrative approach was used to describe prognostic factors. Studies were selected and finalised based on the review question. The quality of the included studies was assessed., Results: A total of 11 studies were included in this review. The 1-, 3-, 5- and 10-year survival rates of SEA Pca cases were 80.8%, 51.9%, 66.1% (range 32.1-100) and 78% (range 55.9-100), respectively. Prognostic factors for Pca were discussed in terms of sociodemographic, disease-related and treatment-related aspects. The predictors of significantly lower survival were age more than 75 years, cancer detected during transurethral resection of the prostate, Gleason score more or equal to eight, high-risk group, metastases and no adjuvant radiotherapy. A meta-analysis on the pooled HR of prostate cancer could not be performed due to the heterogeneity of prognostic factors. The pooled prevalence of localised and metastatic prostate cancer in SEA countries was 39% 95% CI [20-62] and 40% 95% CI [28-53], respectively., Conclusion: The survival rate in SEA countries can be determined by prognostic factors, which can be divided into sociodemographic, disease-related and treatment-related factors. Therefore, further studies are needed to improve the understanding and treatment of Pca in the region SEA.

Background: Schistosomiasis is a parasitic infection that causes significant public health problems in tropical countries. Schistosoma haematobium species are blamable for causing urinary schistosomiasis. The infected person, specifically children, may be carrying the disease. This systematic review aimed to identify the current knowledge of urinary Schistosmiasis in children or USC on its epidemiology, risk factors, and challenges to spread the understanding of controlling the disease and reducing the complications., Method: In November 2021, a systematic computer-aided literature review was conducted using PubMed, SCOPUS and Web of Science, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria. The results were updated in February 2022. We only used papers that have at least the abstract available in English. Relevant articles were screened, duplicates were deleted, eligibility criteria were applied, and studies that met the criteria were reviewed. The keywords Human Schistosoma infections, prevalence, risk factors and challenges were included. The protocol for the review was registered with PROSPERO (registration number CRD42022311609). Pooled prevalence rates were calculated using the programme R version 4.2.1. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 statistic and p-value. A narrative approach was used to describe risk factors and challenges. Studies were selected and finalised based on the review question to prioritise. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Mixed-Method Appraisal Tool (MMAT)., Results: A total of 248 publications met the requirements for inclusion. Fifteen articles were included in this review, with the result showing high heterogeneity. The pooled prevalence of urinary schistosomiasis in children is 4% (95% confidence interval (CI)). Age, poor socioeconomic status, education, exposure to river water, and poor sanitation are the risk factors identified in this review. Challenges are faced due to limitations of clean water, lack of water resources, and poor hygiene., Conclusion: Modifiable risk factors such as poor knowledge and practices must be addressed immediately. Healthcare providers and schools could accomplish engaging in practical promotional activities. Communicating the intended messages to raise community awareness of urinary schistosomiasis is critical., Competing Interests: NO authors have competing interests., (Copyright: © 2023 Masdor et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Sarcopenia is a disease associated with the loss of muscle mass, strength, and function. It affects the elderly in various ways, such as reduced mobility, compromising their daily activities, and even deteriorating metabolic health. Primary care serves as the first point of contact for patients and plays an important role in health promotion and disease prevention. Hence, this review is conducted to identify the challenges in the management of sarcopenia in the primary care setting., Method: In December 2022, a scoping review was conducted using PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and a manual search, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria. We used articles that have been written in English, and relevant articles were then screened, duplicates were removed, eligibility criteria were applied, and studies that met the criteria were reviewed. The keywords challenges, management, sarcopenia, and primary care were included., Result: The initial search generated 280 publications, and 11 articles were included after inclusion and exclusion criteria for this review. In this review, challenges in the management of sarcopenia in a primary care setting are reviewed based on the screening and diagnosis., Conclusions: With an increasing aging population, it is important to understand the challenges in the management of sarcopenia in a primary care setting. Identification of elderly at risk of sarcopenia, followed by referring the affected elderly for confirmation of the diagnosis, is essential to preventing the adverse health effects. The initiation of treatment that comprises resistance exercise training and nutrition should not be delayed, as they are salient in the management of sarcopenia.

Mass drug administration (MDA) has been implemented as a tool to eliminate lymphatic filariasis. Acceptability among susceptible populations is crucial to achieving MDA effective coverage. This systematic review aims to present and systematically determine the factors associated with the acceptability of MDA. Articles related to factors associated with acceptability were collected electronically from three different databases (Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed). Four pairs of independent reviewers screened the titles and abstracts of the collected data, stored in EndnoteX7, against the inclusion criteria. Afterwards, the included articles have been critically appraised to assess the quality of the studies using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Of the 68 articles identified, 11 were included in the final review. Knowledge, awareness, attitude and perceptions, communications, delivery and accessibility of MDA, gender, and age are the factors associated with MDA acceptability. Community acceptance remains a challenge in the implementation of MDA. To expand MDA coverage in all endemic countries, there is a strong need to address the factors influencing community acceptance of MDA.

Background: The concept of customer satisfaction is gaining hold in all corporate sectors worldwide, and a satisfaction survey is used as a tool to discover service problems and as a chance for customers to rate their experience with health care services. A high degree of patient satisfaction with the services given has been found in numerous studies conducted in Malaysian public health care facilities. However, there is limited information available on caregiver satisfaction with pediatric clinics run by the Ministry of Health (MoH) of Malaysia., Objective: This was the first research performed at a public hospital's pediatric clinic, which was the first hospital to adopt the public-private-partnership model under the MoH, with the aim of discovering the prevalence and factors affecting the satisfaction of caregivers at the national referral center., Methods: Cross-sectional research using the standard self-administered SERVQUAL questionnaire was conducted among caregivers accompanying their children to the clinic. The questionnaire consists of 16 paired statements to evaluate their expectations and experiences with the clinic services., Results: A total of 459 caregivers were involved in this study with a majority aged between 30 and 39 years (n=254, 55.4%). Caregivers from the Indian community (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 2.91, 95% CI 1.37-6.18) and lower income groups (AOR 2.94, 95% CI 1.87-4.64), and those with lower educational backgrounds (AOR 3.58, 95% CI 1.19-10.72) were more likely to be satisfied with the quality of pediatric clinic services. Housewives/househusbands (AOR 0.48, 95% CI 0.25-0.90), on the other hand, appeared less likely to be satisfied with the services provided during their visit to the clinic. Looking at overall patient satisfaction, 50.5% (n=232) of caregivers demonstrated satisfaction with the quality of services, compared to 49.5% (n=227) of dissatisfied respondents., Conclusions: This paper suggests that, although most caregivers are satisfied with the services, greater emphasis must be placed on delivering reliable service in response to the MoH's mission to provide quality and integrated people-centered health services in Malaysia., (©Thinakaran M Selvarajah, Eiko Yamamoto, Yu Mon Saw, Tetsuyoshi Kariya, Nobuyuki Hamajima. Originally published in JMIRx Med (https://med.jmirx.org), 25.05.2022.)

An electrochemical sensor is described for the determination of L-tryptophan (TRP). The method is based on the use of a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with a nanocomposite consisting of moss ball-like cerium-doped ZnO and functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (Ce-ZnO/f-MWCNT). Ce-doped ZnO was synthesized by a low temperature hydrothermal method. The Ce-ZnO/f-MWCNT nanocomposite was characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, FTIR and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The nanocomposite was drop cast on a GCE for use in electrochemical detection of TRP via cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. The oxidation peak current (0.76 V vs. Ag/AgCl) is strongly improved compared to a bare GCE. The experimental parameters such as solution pH value, scan rate, stability, concentration, reproducibility and repeatability were optimized. Response is linear in the 10 to 100 nM TRP concentration range, the limit of detection is 1.2 nM, and the sensitivity is 2.59 μA·nM -1 ·cm -2 . The electrode was applied to the determination of TRP in spiked real samples and gave satisfactory results. Graphical abstract Schematic presentation of the preparation of a moss ball like nanocomposite consisting of cerium-doped ZnO and functionalized MWCNTs. cerium-Deposited on a on glassy carbon electrode, it enables nanomolar detection of L-tryptophan by differential pulse voltammetry.

In this study, we developed a novel composite material containing biological macromolecules like heparin and chitosan coated on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) for the modification of glassy carbon electrode (hep/CS-rGO/GC). It can be applied for the sensitive electrochemical detection of Pb 2+ by square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV). The physicochemical analysis such as XRD, FTIR, FESEM and Raman spectroscopy techniques revealed that an effective functionalization occurred at the rGO surface. The consequence of deposition and stripping of metal ions by various electrochemical parameters such as supporting electrolytes, pH value, deposition potential, and deposition time were carefully studied and optimized. Under the optimized conditions, the linear calibration curve was calculated to be from 1.125 to 8.25μgL -1 for Pb 2+ with the correlation coefficient (R 2 ) 0.9988. The detection limit and sensitivity achieved for the modified electrode were 0.03μgL -1 and 1.34μA/nM respectively. Furthermore, the electrochemical investigation indicates that the hep/CS-rGO composite electrode exhibits high selectivity, strong adherence to the electrode surface, good stability and reproducibility towards the detection of Pb 2+ . Finally, hep/CS-rGO/GC electrode was assessed by the quantity of Pb 2+ present in the practical samples, and the determined results were consistent with that of AAS., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Parathyroid lesions clinically manifest themselves in the form of primary hyperparathyroidism most of the times. Parathyroid adenoma constitutes one of the important causes of the same. Although rare, they pose considerable diagnostic dilemma to the pathologist. A 50-year-old female presented to the surgical outpatient of our hospital with a history of recurrent pancreatitis. Clinical examination revealed a mass in the neck which was radiologically demonstrated as right inferior parathyroid mass. The same mass was surgically excised and histopathological features are discussed in this report.

Introduction: Anxiety and depression are prevalent during pregnancy. Estimates of the prevalence of anxiety and depression during pregnancy vary according to the criteria used, variable methodologies and population characteristics., Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used. A total of 175 antenatal mothers participated. Their socio-demographic and obstetric histories were recorded. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.) were used., Results: The prevalence of anxiety and depression disorders among antenatal mothers using diagnostic clinical interview were 9.1% and 8.6%, respectively. Factors associated with antenatal anxiety were marital status (being unmarried), positive history of mental illness, gestational age (<20 weeks), unplanned pregnancy and depressive comorbidity. However, only gestational age of less than 20 weeks and depressive disorder remained significant factors in the multivariate analysis., Discussion: The prevalence rate of antenatal depression detected by HADS screening was comparable to the rate from diagnostic interview, but there was a slight overestimation for antenatal anxiety. Nonetheless, HADS as a screening tool offers a practical solution for detecting these two conditions in a busy antenatal clinic or a large epidemiological survey. In view of the deleterious effects of antenatal anxiety and depression on mothers and children, these two conditions should be screened and managed appropriately., (Copyright © 2013 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.)

Several studies are currently ongoing to construct synthetic bone-like materials with composites of natural and polymeric materials with HA (hydroxyapatite). The present study aims to fabricate composite nanofibrous substrate of Chit/HA (chitosan/HA - 80:25) prepared by dissolving in TFA/DCM (trifluoroacetic acid/dichloromethane) (70:30, w/w) for 5 days and electrospun to fabricate a scaffold for bone tissue engineering. HA (25 wt %) was sonicated for 30 min to obtain a homogenous dispersion of nanoparticles within the Chit (80 wt %) matrix for fabricating composite nanofibrous scaffold (Chit/HA). The nanofibres of Chit and Chit/HA were obtained with fibre diameters of 274 ± 75 and 510 ± 198 nm, respectively, and characterized by FESEM (field emission scanning electron microscopy) and FTIR (Fourier transform infrared). The interaction of hFOBs (human fetal osteoblasts) and nanofibrous substrates were analysed for cell morphology (FESEM), mineralization [ARS (Alizarin Red-S) staining], quantification of minerals and finally identified the elements present in Chit/HA/osteoblasts by EDX (energy-dispersive X-ray) analysis. EDX analysis confirmed that the spherulites contain calcium and phosphorus, the major constituents in calcium phosphate apatite, the mineral phase of the bone. Mineralization was increased significantly (P<0.001) up to 108% in Chit/HA compared with Chit nanofibres. These results confirmed that the electrospun composite Chit/HA nanofibrous substrate is a potential biocomposite material for the proliferation and mineralization of hFOBs required for enhanced bone tissue regeneration.