Background Maternal mortality remains a major challenge to health systems in low and middle-incoming countries. Some pregnant women develop potentially life-threatening complications during childbirth. Therefore, home delivery is a precursor for maternal mortality. In this study, we aimed at not only estimating the percentage of deliveries occurring at home and examining the factors associated with home delivery, but we also explored the reasons for home delivery among women in rural Ghana. Methods The study was conducted among mothers with delivery experience in selected communities in the Builsa South district located in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected using semi-structured questionnaires and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) guide respectively. A total of 456 mothers participated in this study. Regression models were used in the quantitative analysis whereas a thematic analysis approach was used to analyze the qualitative data. Results Of the 423 mothers in the quantitative research, 38.1% (95% CI: 33.5-42.8) delivered their index child at home. In adjusted analysis, women who were not exposed to information (AOR = 13.64, p<0.001) and women with 2 (AOR = 4.64, p = 0.014), 3 (AOR = 4.96, p = 0.025) or at least 4 living children (AOR = 9.59, p = 0.001) had higher odds of delivering at home. From the qualitative analysis, the poor attitude of nurses (midwives), lack of, and cost

A coronavirus related to SARS-CoV-2 has been isolated from Malayan pangolins illegally imported into Guangdong Province. It is not the precursor of SARS-CoV-2, but a comparison of viral genome sequences provides further evidence that the virus currently infecting humans. Bats and pangolins have been suggested as the natural reservoirs of a large variety of viruses. Some researchers have given attention to other species as the origin of coronaviruses and none have referred to bats and pangolins as the two emerging coronaviruses origin, which have caused unexpected human disease outbreaks recently. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), are suggested to be originated from bats and pangolins. Numerous species of bats and pangolins in China have been observed to harbor genetically diverse SARS-like coronaviruses. Some strains are highly similar to SARS-CoV even in the spike protein and are able to use the same receptor as SARS-CoV for cell entry. Meanwhile, different coronaviruses phylogenetically related to MERS-CoV have been observed in the bats and pangolins species, some might be classified as similar to coronavirus species as MERS-CoV. Coronaviruses genetically related to human coronavirus 229E and NL63 have been found in bats and pangolins, respectively. However, intermediate hosts are suggested to play an important role in the transmission and emergence of these coronaviruses from bats and pangolins to humans. This study further documented that bats and pangolins origin of human coronaviruses are meaningful to predict and prevent a future outbreak of the deadly pandemic.

Accumulating studies have shown that chronic exposure to iAs correlates with an increased incidence of diabetes. In recent years, miRNA dysfunction has emerged both as a response to iAs exposure and independently as candidate drivers of metabolic phenotypes such as T2DM. However, few miRNAs have been profiled during the progression of diabetes after iAs exposure in vivo. In the present study, high iAs (10 mg/L NaAsO2) exposure mice models of C57BKS/Leprdb (db/db) and C57BLKS/J (WT) were established through the drinking water, the exposure duration was 14 weeks. The results showed that high iAs exposure induced no significant changes in FBG levels in either db/db or WT mice. FBI levels, C-peptide content and HOMA-IR levels were significantly increased, and glycogen levels in the livers were significantly lower in arsenic-exposed db/db mice. HOMA-β% was decreased significantly in WT mice exposed to high iAs. In addition, more different metabolites were found in the arsenic-exposed group than the control group in db/db mice, mainly involved in the lipid metabolism pathway. Highly expressed glucose, insulin, and lipid metabolism-related miRNAs were selected, including miR-29a-3p, miR-143-3p, miR-181a-3p, miR-122-3p, miR-22-3p and miR-16-3p. And a series of target genes were chosen for analysis, such as ptp1b, irs1, irs2, sirt1, g6pase, and pepck. The results showed that, the axles of miR-181a-3p-irs2, miR-181a-3p-sirt1, miR-22-3p-sirt1, and miR-122-3p-ptp1b in db/db mice, and miR-22-3p-sirt1, miR-16-3p-glut4 in WT mice could be considered as promising targets to explore the mechanisms and therapeutic aspects of T2DM after exposure to high iAs.

Neuroglobin (Ngb) was recently identified as a member of the vertebrate hemoglobin family. Several studies have been conducted on Ngb in mammals, but none have compared its expression and localization among different mammals. This review compared the distribution and localization of Ngb expression and explained the different functions of Ngb in the brains of mammals. Intel’s integrated performance primitive (IPP) analysis was employed to obtain the expression levels in each region of the mammalian brain. Ngb is widely expressed in the adult yak brain and distributed in different areas, similar to its expression in cattle. The relative expression of the Ngb gene in the cerebral cortex (262.69 ± 9.19) was significantly higher than that in the cerebellar cortex (137.00 ± 7.29), hippocampus (1.00 ± 0.22), medulla oblongata (3.43 ± 0.76), striatum (7.65 ± 0.61) and olfactory bulb (2.14 ± 1.22). Findings in the rat brain showed low Ngb protein expression. The mouse brain showed Ngb over expression in a transgenic variant (Ngb-Tg), while in the human brain, the level of Ngb was higher in the hypothalamus, amygdala and pontine tegmental nuclei than in other parts of the brain. The expression levels, distribution and localization of Ngb differ across the brains of different mammals, so it is appropriate to explore the precise distribution and localization of Ngb before comparison or analysis in these mammals.