Annals of medicine
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Poor quality and inadequate of antenatal care (ANC) visits during pregnancy may increase the risk of preventable adverse pregnancy outcomes. We tested the hypothesis that the adequacy of ANC utilization combined with quality of ANC services will reduce the risk of low birth weight (LBW) and preterm delivery (P T D) in the Tamale metropolis of Ghana. ⋯ Individually and jointly, inadequate ANC contacts and content associatedsignificantly with preterm delivery than LBW.Key messagesLimited evidence exists on the joint effect of ANC services timing, contacts and content on adverse pregnancy outcomes.Total adherence to recommended ANC initiation, attendance and receipt of essential services had greater protection against PTD and LBW, compared to any single element/component of ANCWomen who had adequate overall ANC services utilization in terms of timing, contacts and content were 71 % protected from PTD, AOR = 0.29 (95 % CI: 0.15, 0.59) and 56 % protection from LBW AOR = 0.44 (95 % CI: 0.23, 0.83).
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Background: The assessment of severity is crucial in the management of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). It remains unknown whether updating cut-off values of severity scoring systems orchestrate improvement in predictive accuracy. Methods: 3,212 patients with CAP were recruited to two observational prospective cohort studies. ⋯ Key messagesUpdating cut-off values were performed better for predicting mortality. Bettered scoring systems orchestrated higher convergences. Bettered scoring systems demonstrated greater predictive accuracies for mortality.
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Observational Study
Perceived social support and COVID-19 impact on quality of life in college students: an observational study.
The purposes of this study were to assess the current status of perceived social support and COVID-19 impact on quality of life, to investigate the association of perceived social support with the COVID-19 impact on quality of life, and to examine differences in perceived social support between better and worse COVID-19 impact on quality of life for the total sample and by gender. ⋯ Social support from family may act as a key buffer for quality of life during the fall semester of 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in college students. With social interactions restricted during COVID-19, maintained access to social support is highly important.KEY MESSAGESSocial support is a crucial contributing factor to the impact of COVID-19 on quality of life, and support from social relationships may buffer these challenging and unpredictable times.The COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted the quality of life of males and females differently.
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Observational Study
Clinical utilization of multiple antibodies of Mycobacterium tuberculosis for serodiagnosis evaluation of tuberculosis: a retrospective observational cohort study.
We aimed to investigate clinical uncertainties by characterizing the accuracy and utility of commercially available antibodies of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the diagnostic assessment of suspected tuberculosis in high-burden countries. ⋯ Commercially available antibodies against to Mycobacterium tuberculosis do not have sufficient sensitivity for the diagnostic evaluation of active tuberculosis. However, antibody against Rv1636 and 16kD may have sufficiently high specificities, high positive likelihood ratios, and correspondingly high positive predictive values to facilitate the rule-in of active tuberculosis.
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Postoperative sepsis is one of the main causes of mortality after liver transplantation (LT). Our study aimed to develop and validate a predictive model for postoperative sepsis within 7 d in LT recipients using machine learning (ML) technology. ⋯ Our study enrolled eight pre- and intra-operative variables to develop an RF-based predictive model of post-LT sepsis to assist clinical decision-making procedure.