Search Results (205)

Background: Sexuality is a central aspect of being human, even if people experience it in different ways in various stages of life. Sexuality in older people may be expressed, as well as affection, companionship, touch, and physical contact. However, older peoples’ sexual needs are not properly considered by themselves, caregivers, or healthcare professionals. Reviews on barriers related to identification and satisfaction of sexual needs of people living in nursing home are scarce. In this scenario we intended to summarize the state of evidence regarding sexual need identification and satisfaction among older people living in nursing homes and possible barriers that could limit sexual need identification and satisfaction. Methods: We carried out a narrative review. The included studies responded to the research question, using the following key words: nursing homes, sexuality or sexual need, or sexual behavior, older people. Searched databases included PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, PsycInfo, and Scopus. Results: After searching and screening we included 22 studies, finding three main topics: 1. identification of sexual needs by residents and healthcare personnel attitude and practice; 2. barriers and reasons hindering the identification of sexual needs; and 3. manifestation and satisfaction of sexual needs. Conclusions: The findings showed that nursing homes’ residents have different sexual needs, but there are many organizational, educational, and cultural barriers and negative attitudes of healthcare personnel. Supporting nursing home residents to express their sexual needs is a challenge for the healthcare professionals and managers of nursing homes. Full article

Water is an essential resource for life; however, the quality of available water on the planet has been compromised due to various factors, including microbiological contamination. Objective: To analyze the global scientific production of microbiological water contamination using bibliometric methods. Method: A search for scientific articles was conducted using the advanced query function in the Web of Science™ database, specifically in its core collection, on 26 February 2025. Data from 2000 articles were analyzed using the Bibliometrix package in R (version 4.2.1) and the Biblioshiny application (version 2.0). Results: The evaluated articles were published between 1952 and 2025, with a peak in publications in 2022. The journal Water Research stood out as the most relevant, publishing 128 articles. The Egyptian Knowledge Bank was identified as the most productive institution, while China had the highest number of contributing authors. The most cited article received 475 citations. Additionally, KeyWords Plus™ highlighted the focus of the studies on ecological and biotechnological methods for contaminant removal, as well as the presence of waterborne pathogens and their inactivation methods. Conclusions: The results show a growing interest in the development of ecological and biotechnological methods for contaminant removal and pathogen inactivation in water. The integration of artificial intelligence with real-time monitoring systems emerges as a promising strategy for improving water quality management. These findings highlight the relevance of the topic for public health and health education. Full article

This research investigates the application of search engine optimization (SEO) in developing the digital image of rural tourism businesses in the Terras de Trás-os-Montes region of Portugal. With digital marketing becoming increasingly important for businesses to stay competitive, SEO has become a vital tool for developing online recognition, qualified traffic acquisition, and enhancement of conversion rates. The research performs an SEO analysis of 21 rural tourism websites by applying the Ubersuggest tool, analyzing such key indicators as on-page SEO scores, organic traffic, keyword ranking, backlinks, and technical performance. The results identify wide SEO performance discrepancies, with some sites registering excellent practices and others with critical errors that impair the sites’ online recognizability. In particular, low word count, absent meta description, and loading speed issues are very much present. The research emphasizes the need for effective SEO methods, such as on-page maintenance, content creation, and link building, to advance search engine ranking and end-user experience. Moreover, the study emphasizes the necessity for rural tourism businesses to evolve and adapt to current SEO trends, i.e., voice search optimization and local SEO, in the changing digital business environment. The results provide recommendations for rural tourism businesses to develop their digital marketing activities and make progress online. Full article

Background and Objective. The significance of microRNAs (miRNAs) in relation to neoplastic diseases; such as renal carcinoma carcinoma (RCC); has been brought to light by recent studies. Analyzing the main urinary miRNAs implicated in RCC and their potential diagnostic use was the goal of this systematic review of the literature. Methods. This systematic review was performed following the PROSPERO protocol CRD42024550716. Our literature search strategies were deciding which database to include (Pubmed; EMBASE and Clinicaltrial.gov) and composing strings with words related to urinary miRNA in patients with RCC. Key findings and limitations. After screening; 10 papers were included from the 593 records that the systematic review found. No miRNA was investigated in more than one paper by different authors. The miR-210 and let-7 family were the most investigated and resulted upregulated in RCC cases compared to controls. Five papers reported different expression of miRNAs in urine samples before and after surgery: miR-15a; miR-34a-5p; miR-200a-3p; miR-205-5p; miR-210; miR-210-3p; miR-365a-3p and let-7d-5p levels decreased after nephrectomy. Meta-analysis was not performed since the included studies were heterogeneous; in terms of studied miRNA; of the normalizer used during stabilization phase; and histologic type of RCC (clear cell RCC; papillary RCC; unspecified RCC). Conclusions. Considering the variability and heterogeneity of the obtained results; as well as the vastness of the topic; expanding research in this field appears highly promising. To support further advancements; it would be useful to establish a database that consolidates international findings. Full article

This study evaluates the competitiveness of small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (PYMES) through a meta-analysis that explores the role of technology and quality. Through a comprehensive literature review, 24 eligible studies, selected after applying specific criteria in a systematic search of the Scopus database, were identified and analyzed. A random-effects model was used to combine the effect sizes of the selected studies, and the heterogeneity among them was assessed using widely accepted indicators such as I², H² and tau², which confirmed a moderate variability among the studies. The results of the meta-analysis indicated a pooled effect size of 0.53 (95% CI: [0.50, 0.55]), suggesting a significant positive relationship between innovation and competitiveness, as well as between quality and competitiveness. Quality was identified as the most relevant competitive priority, while the use of state-of-the-art technologies was highlighted as a significant risk factor in the context of digital transformation. In addition, topic analysis was performed using the latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model, implemented with the topicmodels package in RStudio 2024.04.2. To ensure accuracy of the analysis, the texts were preprocessed using cleaning and tokenization techniques, which included the removal of punctuation, numbers and empty words. This thematic analysis identified key patterns related to innovation management, operational strategies and integration of digital technologies. The themes generated revealed that manufacturing PYMES prioritize quality as a source of competitive advantage, facing significant challenges associated with technological adoption and digitalization. Full article

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is currently transforming many areas of society, including education. AI offers innovative tools and methods that personalise learning, automate processes and improve the educational experience. Social education seeks to foster integral human development and collective well-being, and AI can be a powerful tool to achieve these goals. For this reason, the main objective of this study is to learn about the use of AI by future social educators. This research is approached from a qualitative methodology. A total of 69 undergraduate students of Social Education from two universities in Spain and Portugal participated in the study. As results and conclusions, it is worth highlighting that future social educators define AI with key words such as tools, technology or help-solution. Most of the students had used AI throughout their academic life. In fact, they used AI academically, at work and personally to search for information or to generate images, mainly through ChatGPT (version 4.0). They highlighted as an advantage the speed of the information, a time-saving feature. The main limitation was the reduction in activities. In general, they considered that AI has a positive impact and would like to continue using it. Full article

In this modern era, in which interest in natural compounds is gaining more ground, Geranium robertianum L. (Gr), a species with long use in traditional medicine, stands out for its promising potential in managing a multitude of health issues. In this context, the present review aims to explore the main phytocompounds detected in various types of extracts, as well as the biological activity of Gr species. This review was conducted by analyzing data published up to February 2025 from peer-reviewed journals and databases including PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, using key words combinations such as Geranium robertianum L. and the searched phytocompound and biological effect. According to the literature the main phytochemical classes identified in different types of extracts include tannins, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and essential oils. The most important biological actions described in the literature are antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiulcerative, neuroprotective, anti-cancer, and antidiabetic effects. However, knowledge about Gr is still relatively limited, requiring more detailed study regarding its pharmacological proprieties and the molecular mechanisms behind them. Full article

Preliminary activities of searching and selecting relevant articles are crucial in scientific research to determine the state of the art (SOTA) and enhance overall outcomes. While there are automatic tools for keyword extraction, these algorithms are often computationally expensive, storage-intensive, and reliant on institutional subscriptions for metadata retrieval. Most importantly, they still require manual selection of literature. This paper introduces a framework that automates keyword searching in article abstracts to help select relevant literature for the SOTA by identifying key terms matching that we, hereafter, call source words. A case study in the food and beverage industry is provided to demonstrate the algorithm’s application. In the study, five relevant knowledge areas were defined to guide literature selection. The database from scientific repositories was categorized using six classification rules based on impact factor (IF), Open Access (OA) status, and JCR journal ranking. This classification revealed the knowledge area with the highest presence and highlighted the effectiveness of the selection rules in identifying articles for the SOTA. The approach included a panel of experts who confirmed the algorithm’s effectiveness in identifying source words in high-quality articles. The algorithm’s performance was evaluated using the $F_1$ Score, which reached 0.83 after filtering out non-relevant articles. This result validates the algorithm’s ability to extract significant source words and demonstrates its usefulness in building the SOTA by focusing on the most scientifically impactful articles. Full article

Background and Objective: Primary Progressive Aphasias (PPAs) are rare neurodegenerative disorders classified within frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and typically manifest between 45 and 70 years of age. In Mexico—and many other countries—reliable epidemiological data are lacking; however, estimates suggest that PPA accounts for 0.5–2.5% of neurodegenerative disease cases in Memory Clinics, with an incidence of approximately 1 per 100,000 and an average survival of 8 years. This review aims to provide clinicians with an overview of PPA’s epidemiology, clinical features, and classification, thereby enhancing understanding of its subtypes and distinguishing characteristics from other aphasic conditions, such as vascular aphasia. Methods: This narrative review was conducted through a literature search using databases such as PubMed and Scopus. Relevant studies addressing the epidemiology, clinical presentation, and classification of PPA were identified, selected, and synthesized to offer a broad, clinically oriented overview of the condition. This approach was chosen to inform clinical practice and highlight the need for further targeted investigations, such as future systematic reviews focusing on specific aspects like therapeutic strategies. Key Contents and Findings: (a) Epidemiology: PPA is estimated to affect 0.5–2.5% of patients with neurodegenerative diseases in Memory Clinics, with an incidence of roughly 1 per 100,000. Average survival time is around 8 years (ranging from 3 to 17 years), with a generally balanced gender ratio, though some studies indicate a predominance of men. A positive family history is observed in 20–40% of cases, with about 10% following an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern. (b) Clinical Characteristics and Classification: PPA is marked by a gradual decline in language abilities, differentiating it from vascular aphasias. Subtypes include non-fluent forms (non-fluent progressive aphasia [nfPPA] and logopenic progressive aphasia [lPPA]), fluent forms (progressive fluent aphasia [PFA] and semantic dementia [SD]), and mixed forms (progressive mixed aphasia [PMA]). The neurodegenerative process in PPA extends beyond vascular boundaries, often resulting in presentations that deviate from classical Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasias. Common symptoms include difficulties in word finding and naming, sometimes mistaken for memory loss, and, in the case of semantic dementia, personality changes that may go unnoticed by the patient. Conclusions: PPA is a heterogeneous and complex group of neurodegenerative disorders with significant clinical variability and a profound impact on patients and their families. While current epidemiological data are limited, this review emphasizes the need for further research to better delineate disease progression and refine diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Future systematic reviews will be essential to address specific aspects of PPA, such as treatment strategies, to further improve patient care. Full article

Background: Malnutrition is a clinical condition that leads to unfavourable changes in health. It affects 35–55% of hospitalized patients, and in the case of cancer, this prevalence rises to 40–90% of patients. Screening nutritional status is essential for preventing undernutrition, which is crucial as its treatment. Undernutrition in patients after severe injuries significantly increases catabolic changes. Cytokines and hormones, such as epinephrine, glucagon, and cortisol, are released, which can increase energy expenditure by 50%. Properly conducted nutritional treatment aims to maintain or improve the nutritional status of patients whose nutrition with a natural diet is insufficient, moreover, in some cases, treatment of the underlying disease. Methods: This study is a narrative review focused on immunonutrition. The search for source articles, mainly from the last 10 years, was conducted in the PubMed and Google Schoolar databases, as well as in printed books. The key words used were “malnutrition”, “inflammation”, “clinical nutrition”, “immunomodulatory components”, “nutritional status assessment”, “enteral nutrition”, “parenteral nutrition”, and their combinations. Results: Providing substances such as omega-3 fatty acids, glutamine, arginine, nucleotides, antioxidants, and prebiotic fiber has a beneficial impact on immunological and anti-inflammatory pathways. The above-mentioned ingredients may inhibit the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, activate anti-inflammatory cytokines, stimulate immune cells, and have a beneficial effect in allergic diseases, respiratory infections, or wound healing. Conslusion: Immunonutrition can be administrated via oral, enteral, and parenteral routes. It is crucial to highlight the importance of proper nutritional status in patients. The relationship between inflammation and malnutrition creates a vicious cycle, where one negatively affects the other due to increased metabolic demand, loss of appetite, weakened immune system, and gut dysbiosis. Full article

This systematic review summarizes the reading intervention literature for English learners (ELs) with disabilities in high school. A robust and exhaustive electronic search of ERIC, PsycINFO, Education Source Ultimate, and Academic Search Ultimate databases using keywords such as “reading interventions”, “English learners”, “disabilities”, and “high school” was performed for the period from 1975 to July 2024. To be included in this review, participants had to be an EL with an identified disability enrolled in high school and receiving a reading intervention, while studies that included participants with reading difficulties were excluded. A total of 110 documents were retrieved, including 105 from the initial electronic database search, and an additional five more were found using Google Scholar. After reviewing all of the documents using a four-step process, seven studies met our inclusion criteria and are included in this systematic review. Across the reading intervention studies, key study variables were coded into two categories: (a) participant characteristics and (b) study and intervention characteristics. The findings indicated that all studies reported largely positive effects on improving students’ reading outcomes. Reading interventions included semantic mapping, repeated readings with systematic error correction and performance feedback, summarization strategies (e.g., RAP Paraphrasing Strategy, Modified GIST Strategy), and multi-component instructional packages (e.g., Clue Word Strategy, CLUES strategy, Reading Intervention for Adolescents [RIA]). It is difficult to draw a firm conclusion about effective reading interventions for high school ELs with disabilities because of the limited number of studies, small sample sizes of ELs with disabilities, few disability categories represented, and lack of stand-alone reading interventions. The Discussion section summarizes the key findings, limitations to consider, implications for classroom practice, and directions for future research. Full article

Plants have long been used to treat serious illnesses in both humans and animals. A significant underappreciated medicinal tree, Peltophorum africanum Sond is utilized by many different ethnic groups to cure a wide range of illnesses. A variety of electronic databases, including ScienceDirect, Scopus, Scielo, Scifinder, PubMed, Web of Science, Medline, and Google Scholar, were used to search the literature on P. africanum, using key words such as uses, survey, pharmacology, antigonococcal, toxicity, phytochemistry and others. Further data was obtained from several scholarly theses, dissertations, and books on general plant sciences, ethnomedicine, and other pertinent ethnobotanical topics. The plant species possess very important pharmacological activities in vitro, which includes antimicrobial, anti-HIV, antioxidant, anticancer, antidiabetic, and other activities. Phytochemically, the plant possesses various classes of compounds, dominated by flavonols, which may well explain its wider range of pharmacological activities. Although the plant is promising anti-HIV activity, the mode of action and safety profiles of the plant also need to be explored as its extracts exerted some degree of mutagenicity. It is also important to further explore its ethnoveterinary use against a plethora of nematodes that infects both wild and domestic animals. Given its potent pharmacological activity, the further in vivo studies need to be explored to ascertain the comprehensive toxicology of the plant species, thereby developing possible medications. The plant species may further be elevated to a potent pharmaceutical product against plethora of infections. Full article

Background and Objectives: Autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) transfusions are a relatively new treatment method used in different fields of medicine, including the field of reproductive medicine. One of the applications of these concentrated platelet infusions is the treatment of endometrial receptivity, which is a key factor for embryo implantation. There are implications that PRP infusions can lead to increased endometrial thickness, endometrial receptivity, and significantly elevated clinical pregnancy rates. Our objective is to briefly understand what PRP is and to, through a narrative review, summarize the findings from studies focused on evaluating the benefits of PRP infusions to treat thin endometrium with the goal of achieving better endometrial receptivity. Materials and Methods: Reference data was searched using Medline, PubMed, and EMBASE to identify reports from 2015 to 2024. The combination of search words used was “PRP” and “platelet-rich plasma” with “thin endometrium”, “endometrial receptivity”, “endometrial thickness”, and “endometrial implantation”. Obtained articles were screened, and suited studies (randomized controlled trials, case reports, case series, pilot studies, and reviews) were included in the present review. Reports not available in the English language were eliminated from the current review. Results: The results from most of the reviewed studies showed a positive effect of autologous PRP infusions on increasing endometrial thickness, enhancing endometrial receptivity, and elevating clinical pregnancy rates. The majority of the evaluated findings revealed endometrial thickness > 7 mm (increased endometrial thickness was observed in each evaluated study) following the PRP treatment. More than 50% of the evaluated studies resulted in enhanced endometrial thickness, increased endometrial receptivity, and an elevated pregnancy rate after the PRP application. Conclusions: Autologous PRP infusions for treating endometrium are a relatively new method that has shown promising results. Its major strengths are availability and proper application, which eliminates possible immunological reactions or disease transmission. The main drawbacks are not enough data on safety (i.e., its effect on endometriosis) and the lack of uniformity in the PRP preparation, which would provide optimal standardized quality and quantity of the PRP product and, thus, optimal treatment results. Full article

Background/Objectives: Frey’s syndrome surgical treatment may be either prophylactic or therapeutic. The aim of this study is to summarize the state of the art in Frey’s syndrome surgical treatment after parotidectomy and review indications, advantages, and disadvantages of different surgical options. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines for scoping reviews; to fulfill the research enquiries, four different electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, and Web of Science) were searched using the PICO protocol and key words in Frey’s syndrome surgical treatment. Results: A total of 15 articles met the inclusion criteria. Multiple surgical strategies have been developed over the last fifty years in an attempt to treat gustatory sweating; nevertheless, the surgical results are not always as effective as desired, and a gold standard has not been developed yet. Within the limitations of the study, a shift in surgical approaches over the years has been noted: tympanic neurectomy was the most frequently employed technique until the 1980s; more recently, local flaps interposed between the parotid tissue and skin layer have been the treatment of choice. Conclusions: Surgery is a viable option in Frey’s syndrome treatment, and it is indicated in cases of medical treatment inefficacy, tumor recurrence, invalidating symptoms, and unaesthetic surgical sequelae. Full article

Background: Giant cell tumor of bone (GCTB) is a locally aggressive tumor. It accounts for only 5% of all bony tumors. Early diagnosis, and follow-up for recurrence is often difficult due to a lack of biogenetic markers. Giant cells are multinucleated epithelioid cells derived from macrophages. Histologically, giant cells are also present in other pathologies of bone, e.g., aneurysmal bone cyst, chondroblastoma, giant cell granuloma, and malignant giant cell tumor, etc. Similarly, radiographic findings overlap with other osteolytic lesions, making the diagnosis and prognosis of giant cell tumor very challenging. Aims and Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore biological and genetic markers which can be used for detection, differentiation, recurrence, and prognosis of GCTB. This will help to better understand the clinical outcome of GCTB and minimize the need for interventions. Methods: We conducted a literature search using Google, Google Scholar, PubMed, Wiley Library, Medline, Clinical trials.org, and Web of Science. Our search strategy included MeSH terms and key words for giant cell tumor and biogenetic markers from date of inception to September 2020. After excluding review articles, 246 duplicates, and non-relevant articles, we included 24 articles out of 1568 articles, summarizing the role of biogenetic markers in the prognosis of GCT. Results: P63 is 98.6% sensitive and relatively specific for GCT as compared to other multinucleated giant cells containing neoplasms. MDM2 (mouse double minute 2 homolog), IGF1 (insulin-like growth factor 1), STAT1 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 1), and RAC1 (Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1) are associated with GCTB recurrence, and might serve as biomarkers for it. Increased expression of the proteins STAT5B, GRB2, and OXSR1 was related to a higher probability of metastasis. H3F3A and H3F3B mutation analysis appears to be a highly specific, although less sensitive, diagnostic tool for the distinction of giant cell tumor of bone (GCTB) and chondroblastoma from other giant cell-containing tumors. A neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) > 2.70, platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) > 215.80, lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR) ≤ 2.80, and albumin to globulin ratio (AGR) < 1.50 were significantly associated with decreased disease-free survival (DFS) (p < 0.05). Large amounts of osteoclast-related mRNA (cathepsin K, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase, and matrix metalloproteinase9) in GCTs (p < 0.05) are associated with the grade of bone resorption. We propose that subarticular primary malignant bone sarcomas with H3.3 mutations represent true malignant GCTB, even in the absence of a benign GCTB component. IMP3 and IGF2 might be potential biomarkers for GCT of the spine in regulating the angiogenesis of giant cell tumor of bone and predicting patients’ prognosis. Conclusions: This review study shows serological markers, genetic factors, cell membrane receptor markers, predictive markers for malignancy, and prognostic protein markers which are highly sensitive for GCT and relatively specific for giant cell tumor. MDM2, IGF1, STAT1, RAC1 are important makers in determining recurrence, while P63 and H3F3A differentiate GCT from other giant cell-containing tumors. STAT5B, GRB2, and OXSR1 are significant in determining the prognosis of GCT. Apart from using radiological and histological parameters, we can add them to tumor work-up for definitive diagnosis and prognosis. Full article