| 1. |
- Pantazis, N, et al.
(författare)
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Determining the likely place of HIV acquisition for migrants in Europe combining subject-specific information and biomarkers data
- 2019
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Ingår i: Statistical methods in medical research. - : SAGE Publications. - 1477-0334 .- 0962-2802. ; 28:7, s. 1979-1997
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In most HIV-positive individuals, infection time is only known to lie between the time an individual started being at risk for HIV and diagnosis time. However, a more accurate estimate of infection time is very important in certain cases. For example, one of the objectives of the Advancing Migrant Access to Health Services in Europe (aMASE) study was to determine if HIV-positive migrants, diagnosed in Europe, were infected pre- or post-migration. We propose a method to derive subject-specific estimates of unknown infection times using information from HIV biomarkers’ measurements, demographic, clinical, and behavioral data. We assume that CD4 cell count (CD4) and HIV-RNA viral load trends after HIV infection follow a bivariate linear mixed model. Using post-diagnosis CD4 and viral load measurements and applying the Bayes’ rule, we derived the posterior distribution of the HIV infection time, whereas the prior distribution was informed by AIDS status at diagnosis and behavioral data. Parameters of the CD4–viral load and time-to-AIDS models were estimated using data from a large study of individuals with known HIV infection times (CASCADE). Simulations showed substantial predictive ability (e.g. 84% of the infections were correctly classified as pre- or post-migration). Application to the aMASE study ( n = 2009) showed that 47% of African migrants and 67% to 72% of migrants from other regions were most likely infected post-migration. Applying a Bayesian method based on bivariate modeling of CD4 and viral load, and subject-specific information, we found that the majority of HIV-positive migrants in aMASE were most likely infected after their migration to Europe.
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| 2. |
- Magtalas, M. C., et al.
(författare)
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A systematic review of ethnomedicinal plants used for pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care in the Philippines
- 2023
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Ingår i: Phytomedicine Plus. - : Elsevier BV. - 2667-0313. ; 3:1
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Medicinal plants are still widely used in rural areas of the Philippines. Among the conditions treated with medicinal plants are those related to pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care. This systematic review identified the medicinal plants used for obstetric care in the country. Methods: The study was conducted based on the PRISMA flow diagram, starting with a data search using three databases. The necessary information was extracted from the eligible research papers, and the studies' quality was assessed through a developed quality assessment tool. Results: This study included 38 ethnobotanical studies with 153 plant species used for pregnancy and postpartum care. Most of the studies were conducted in Northern Mindanao, in the Philippines. The most common pregnancy-related indications for the medicinal plants were postpartum care, and postpartum bleeding topped the list. The most common plant family, genus, and species were Fabaceae, Ficus, and Moringa oleifera Lam, respectively. The leaf was the most common single plant part used for pregnancy and postpartum care. Only 80 medicinal plants had toxicologic and teratogenic data. Conclusion: Women from different ethnic groups widely utilized medicinal plants to treat pregnancy-related conditions. Further research on toxicology and teratogenicity is necessary to ensure the safety of their users.
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| 3. |
- Malhi, Yadvinder, et al.
(författare)
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The linkages between photosynthesis, productivity, growth and biomass in lowland Amazonian forests
- 2015
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley. - 1354-1013. ; 21:6, s. 2283-2295
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding the relationship between photosynthesis, net primary productivity and growth in forest ecosystems is key to understanding how these ecosystems will respond to global anthropogenic change, yet the linkages among these components are rarely explored in detail. We provide the first comprehensive description of the productivity, respiration and carbon allocation of contrasting lowland Amazonian forests spanning gradients in seasonal water deficit and soil fertility. Using the largest data set assembled to date, ten sites in three countries all studied with a standardized methodology, we find that (i) gross primary productivity (GPP) has a simple relationship with seasonal water deficit, but that (ii) site-to-site variations in GPP have little power in explaining site-to-site spatial variations in net primary productivity (NPP) or growth because of concomitant changes in carbon use efficiency (CUE), and conversely, the woody growth rate of a tropical forest is a very poor proxy for its productivity. Moreover, (iii) spatial patterns of biomass are much more driven by patterns of residence times (i.e. tree mortality rates) than by spatial variation in productivity or tree growth. Current theory and models of tropical forest carbon cycling under projected scenarios of global atmospheric change can benefit from advancing beyond a focus on GPP. By improving our understanding of poorly understood processes such as CUE, NPP allocation and biomass turnover times, we can provide more complete and mechanistic approaches to linking climate and tropical forest carbon cycling.
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