Introduction: Poor feeding practices can result in malnutrition, which may have long-term negative effects on children’s physical and cognitive development. There is limited qualitative research exploring feeding practices among caregivers of urban poor, even though their children are highly vulnerable to undernutrition. Aim: This qualitative study aimed to explore and compare the feeding practices, barriers and coping strategies of caregivers of well-nourished and undernourished children aged three to five years living in public low-cost housing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Methods: Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted among 27 caregivers. Caregivers were purposively selected using purposive sampling and categorized into two groups based on their children’s growth status: families with well-nourished children (FWWC; n=15) and families with undernourished children (FWUC; n=12). Thematic analysis was conducted. Results: Two main themes emerged: feeding practices and barriers and coping strategies to feed children. FWWC caregivers demonstrated certain unique yet beneficial practices. They emphasized responsive feeding techniques, such as using nutritious snacks, promising outdoor activities, and involving children in meal preparation at home as effective strategies to increase children’s food intake. Contrarily, FWUC caregivers practiced less responsive feeding techniques, such as forcing, ignorance, and distraction. Caregivers from both groups experienced similar barriers (child barriers and family barriers) and applied comparable coping strategies (ignorance, distraction, pressure and force, compromise, and creativity). Conclusion: Understanding feeding practices of caregivers of healthy and undernourished children can guide the development of culturally tailored interventions and policies. These efforts can help address barriers and improve child nutrition through responsive feeding, ultimately preventing undernutrition.

Introduction: The growing population of international students in Malaysia has underscored the need to better understand their food preferences. Despite this, local studies addressing this topic have remained scarce. This study aimed to determine relationships between nutrition knowledge and food environment and their respective contributions to food preferences among international students at a Malaysian public university. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 619 international students. A structured questionnaire was used to assess general nutrition knowledge and food environment. Students were asked to rate their preferences for 77 food items using a five-point Likert scale, ranging from “dislike a lot” (1) to “like a lot” (5). The food items were categorised into six groups, namely animal foods (14 items), starches (12 items), dairy products (8 items), fruits (15 items), vegetables (20 items), and snacks (8 items). Results: A significant negative relationship was observed between dairy preference and affordability (r=-0.115, p=0.005). Students who lived off campus reported significantly greater preference for vegetables (M=75.49) than those who lived on campus (M=72.84). Nutrition knowledge related to diet, disease, and weight management emerged as the strongest predictor of fruit preference (β=0.257, p<0.001). Conclusion: General nutrition knowledge and food accessibility emerged as significant predictors of food preferences. Nutrition intervention programmes and efforts to improve access to fresh food options on campus may help encourage healthier food preferences among international students.

Listeria brainstem encephalitis with myelitis is extremely rare in clinical practice.Since the clinical manifestations are non-specific,MRI is helpful for diagnosis.Positive cerebrospinal fluid culture is considered the gold standard for diagnosis.This article reports a case of an immunocompetent individual with listeria brainstem encephalitis with myelitis,aiming to enhance the awareness of this condition.
Humans ; Brain Stem/pathology* ; Diagnostic Errors ; Encephalitis/complications* ; Encephalomyelitis, Acute Disseminated/diagnosis* ; Listeriosis/complications* ; Myelitis/complications*

Various researches have reported on the relationship between homocysteine levels and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Researchers are increasingly focusing on the impact of homocysteine on female reproductive health and figuring out the potential positive effects of lowering homocysteine levels on women fertility. Our review aims to systematically summarize the possible roles of homocysteine in female reproductive disorders based on relevant studies from the past 15 years and therapeutic prospects targeting homocysteine to improve the reproductive health of women.

Objective:To investigate the effect of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on the sense of personal control and illness perception of young and middle-aged patients after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), so as to provide theoretical and practical guidance for the psychological care of patients after PCI.Methods:A randomized controlled trial was conducted. From January 2022 to December 2023, young and middle-aged patients after PCI admitted to the Department of Cardiology, Qinhuai Medical District, Eastern Theater Command General Hospital of the Chinese People′s Liberation Army were selected as the research subjects by convenient sampling method, patients were divided into the experimental group and the control group by the random number table method. The control group was given routine nursing, and the experimental group was given mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on the basis of routine nursing. The Personal Mastery Scale (PMS), Cardiac Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (CSEQ), and Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ) were used to evaluate personal sense of control, self-efficacy, and illness perception before and after the intervention respectively.Results:A total of 80 young and middle-aged patients after PCI were included. There were 40 cases in the control group, including 25 males and 15 females, aged (49.43 ± 5.55) years old. There were 40 cases in the experimental group, including 19 males and 21 females, aged (49.03 ± 4.19) years old. Before the intervention, there was no statistically significant difference in the PMS, CSEQ and BIPQ scores between the two groups of patients (all P>0.05). After the intervention, the PMS, CSEQ scores of the patients in the experimental group were (23.03 ± 2.54), (45.85 ± 8.16) points respectively, which were higher than (21.95 ± 2.28), (39.05 ± 8.78) points in the control group, the BIPQ score of the patients in the experimental group was(39.63 ± 8.12) points, which was lower the (45.45 ± 8.64) points in the control group, the differences were statistically significant ( t=-2.00, -3.59, 3.11, all P<0.05). Conclusions:Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy can effectively improve the sense of personal control and self-efficacy of young and middle-aged patients after PCI, reduce the sense of threat to the disease.

Sennoside A (SA), a typical prodrug, exerts its laxative effect only after its transformation into rheinanthrone catalyzed by gut microbial hydrolases and reductases. Hydrolases have been identified, but reductases remain unknown. By linking a photoreactive group to the SA scaffold, we synthesized a photoaffinity probe to covalently label SA reductases and identified SA reductases using activity-based protein profiling (ABPP). From lysates of an active strain, Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum (B. pseudocatenulatum), 397 proteins were enriched and subsequently identified using mass spectrometry (MS). Among these proteins, chromate reductase/nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) phosphate (NADPH)-dependent flavin mononucleotide (FMN) reductase/oxygen-insensitive NADPH nitroreductase (nfrA) was identified as a potent SA reductase through further bioinformatic analysis and The Universal Protein Resource (UniProt) database screening. We also determined that recombinant nfrA could reduce SA. Our study contributes to further illuminating mechanisms of SA transformation to rheinanthrone and simultaneously offers an effective method to identify gut bacterial reductases.

•A strategy for in situ metabolically synthesized active drug-based probes was proposed.•The potential purgative targets of SA were successfully hooked and identified.•The work provided a new insight for studying the direct targets of unstable active drugs.

Various researches have reported on the relationship between homocysteine levels and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Researchers are increasingly focusing on the impact of homocysteine on female reproductive health and figuring out the potential positive effects of lowering homocysteine levels on women fertility. Our review aims to systematically summarize the possible roles of homocysteine in female reproductive disorders based on relevant studies from the past 15 years and therapeutic prospects targeting homocysteine to improve the reproductive health of women.

BACKGROUND: P16 inactivation is frequently accompanied by telomerase reverse transcriptase ( TERT ) amplification in human cancer genomes. P16 inactivation by DNA methylation often occurs automatically during immortalization of normal cells by TERT . However, direct evidence remains to be obtained to support the causal effect of epigenetic changes, such as P16 methylation, on cancer development. This study aimed to provide experimental evidence that P16 methylation directly drives cancer development. METHODS: A zinc finger protein-based P16 -specific DNA methyltransferase (P16-Dnmt) vector containing a "Tet-On" switch was used to induce extensive methylation of P16 CpG islands in normal human fibroblast CCD-18Co cells. Battery assays were used to evaluate cell immortalization and transformation throughout their lifespan. Cell subcloning and DNA barcoding were used to track the diversity of cell evolution. RESULTS: Leaking P16-Dnmt expression (without doxycycline-induction) could specifically inactivate P16 expression by DNA methylation. P16 methylation only promoted proliferation and prolonged lifespan but did not induce immortalization of CCD-18Co cells. Notably, cell immortalization, loss of contact inhibition, and anchorage-independent growth were always prevalent in P16-Dnmt&TERT cells, indicating cell transformation. In contrast, almost all TERT cells died in the replicative crisis. Only a few TERT cells recovered from the crisis, in which spontaneous P16 inactivation by DNA methylation occurred. Furthermore, the subclone formation capacity of P16-Dnmt&TERT cells was two-fold that of TERT cells. DNA barcoding analysis showed that the diversity of the P16-Dnmt&TERT cell population was much greater than that of the TERT cell population. CONCLUSION P16 methylation drives TERT -mediated immortalization and transformation of normal human cells that may contribute to cancer development.
Humans ; Telomerase/genetics* ; DNA Methylation/physiology* ; Fibroblasts/cytology* ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16/metabolism* ; Cell Line ; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic/genetics*

Objective:To explore the establishment, implementation, and application effect of the annual progressive assessment mode for standardized training of resident physicians in a medical laboratory base.Methods:Since 2020, the base has improved the annual progressive assessment system through assessment system establishment, question bank construction, routine assessment, rotation examination, and annual examination. This new assessment mode was adopted for the residency trainees enrolled in the base after 2020. The control group consisted of seven residency trainees enrolled before 2020, while the experimental group comprised 13 trainees enrolled in 2020 and later. The two groups were compared based on the rotation and annual examination scores of second- and third-year trainees, as well as their academic achievements. Additionally, teaching outcomes of the base before and after 2020 were analyzed. The t test, rank-sum test, and Fisher's exact test were performed using SPSS 27.00. Results:There were no significant differences in age, sex, and education level between the two groups. The experimental group showed significantly higher scores than the control group in theory assessment ( P<0.001 for second-year trainees and P=0.008 for third-year trainees) and skill assessment ( P<0.001 for second-year trainees and P=0.038 for third-year trainees) in rotation examination, as well as in theory assessment (both P<0.001) and skill assessment (both P<0.001) in annual examination. The improvement was particularly pronounced among second-year trainees. The trainees of the experimental group submitted 17 case reports in three years, and won awards at national conferences, provincial conferences, and institutional case speech competitions. In a national academic conference, the trainees won the second prize of "Excellent Case". Since 2020, we have been granted with our first teaching reform project and published our first teaching article. To date, we have obtained five teaching reform projects, published six teaching articles, and won multiple awards in provincial and institutional teaching competitions. Conclusions:The establishment of the annual progressive assessment mode is critical for training high-quality laboratory physicians, and puts forward higher requirements for residency training teachers.