ARTICLES IN PRESS | YEAR-2025 | VOLUME-6

Nigeria is one of the African nations with a significant global malaria infection burden. Millions of people, particularly children, have died from this parasitic illness. Recently, Nigeria implemented the malaria vaccine, marking a significant step in addressing this issue. This is a major turning point in Nigeria’s efforts to eradicate the fatal illness. Since the introduction of the RTS,S vaccine, the country’s malaria burden has decreased, and Nigeria deserves praise for its leadership, successful collaboration, and community involvement. This letter highlights the challenges and provides future recommendations while expressing gratitude to the Nigerian government for achieving a significant milestone in the fight to eradicate malaria.

The paper presents a brief description of developmental stages of the human hearing organ. Attention was brought to the mechanism of receiving and processing auditory information in a child in the womb. Bekesy’s travelling wave theory does not provide a sufficient explanation of these processes. There are no descriptions of auditory mechanisms on a molecular level. Further in the study, attention is drawn to the beneficial effect of early stimulation of the child’s auditory receptor from the second half of pregnancy and after childbirth.

Basic concept and common philosophy exist in primary care (PC) medicine and psychosomatic medicine, such as a patient-centered point of view. In PC medicine, some factors have been necessary for actual clinical practice. They are Accessibility, Comprehensiveness, Coordination, Continuity, and Context or Contextual Care, which stand for ACCCC. For medical staff, some factors would be required for adequate management and consideration in clinical practice. They are Honesty-Humility (H), Emotionality (E), Extraversion (X), Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C), and Openness To Experience (O) as HEXACO dimensions. Each dimension shows personal traits, which influence various behaviors and maintain our health and well-being.

Auditory-Motor Synchronization (AMS) has recently attracted attention. It coordinates motor actions with rhythmic auditory stimuli, applying to dancing, running, playing music, communicating, and conversations. Several brain regions are involved in this mechanism, such as the primary motor cortex (M1), supplementary motor area (SMA), premotor area (PMA), and basal ganglia. Temporal prediction and timing control are necessary for AMS execution. Medical applications include Parkinson’s disease (PD) and stroke cases for rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS). Future developments in collaboration with artificial intelligence (AI) are expected. AI can learn human AMS patterns and allow robots to synchronize similar movements with more natural micro-movements.

In actual medical practice and research, some factors are indispensable, such as medical practice, art therapy, and various research. These factors will be combined, leading to future health or well-being. These activities have some groups for publication. They include literature for writing, description, storytelling, art for artworks, artistic performance, art therapy, music for therapy, activity, treatment education, and physicals for art dance, play, and drama. Measuring future health would be important and includes physical, mental, and social aspects and behaviors. Future research on art therapy in healthcare will show combined approaches associated with various evidence in RCTs.

The timely availability of prior mammograms is critical for enhancing diagnostic accuracy, reducing recall rates, and improving patient care. However, obtaining prior images from external facilities often proves challenging, leading to delays and suboptimal outcomes. This study examines the implementation of an Outside Image Retrieval Center (OSIRC) within a breast imaging department to streamline the process of retrieving prior imaging. Prior to the OSIRC’s establishment, only 56% of new diagnostic patients arrived with outside imaging (OSI) available before check-in. The OSIRC intervention, aimed at centralizing and improving the retrieval process, successfully increased OSI availability to 74.3% by 2024. This 32.7% improvement, validated by a chi-squared test (p < 0.001), demonstrates the efficacy of the OSIRC in enhancing operational efficiency, reducing delays, and improving patient care. The study also discusses challenges beyond OSIRC’s control, such as patient non-responsiveness, facility closures, and international image retrieval. This initiative offers a model that can be adapted for other medical disciplines to enhance clinical workflow and improve patient outcomes through efficient image management systems.

Background: This study aimed to investigate potential risk factors for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). We used a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach to identify causal associations. It is contributing to the understanding of CTS development.
Methods: We employed MR analysis to investigate the potential links between 88 different risk factors and CTS. The analysis was conducted using data from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) that involved a large cohort of individuals with European ancestry, including 48,843 cases of CTS and 1,190,837 controls.
Results: Among the 88 potential risk factors, 19 traits, including Type 2 diabetes, obesity-related factors, psychiatric factors, hormone-related factors, lifestyle factors, and socioeconomic status, were significantly associated with CTS risk. Additionally, suggestive associations were observed with 17 other factors, including fasting glucose, depression, sleep duration, alcohol intake, and vitamin levels. However, no causal evidence was found for associations between autoimmune diseases, inflammatory biomarkers, acromegaly, and wrist fractures with the risk of CTS.
Conclusion: This Mendelian randomization study identifies several potential risk factors for CTS, shedding light on its multifactorial nature. These findings underscore the importance of metabolic, hormonal, lifestyle, and socioeconomic factors in CTS development, providing valuable implications for preventive measures and interventions.

As global perspectives for political, economic, and social problems, several important international issues have been ongoing with no resolution. Such battlefields affect people’s mental health worldwide. We need to understand the conflicts and differences of opinion and draw the appropriate lines strictly and practically. Familiarizing, recognizing, and evaluating these contents will lead to respecting their humanity toward each other. Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara was a supreme physician and established psychosomatic medicine in Japan. He has enlightened people with medical basic philosophy through the New Elderly Association (NEA) as Hinohara-ism, and emphasized holistic medicine and well-being. Such perspectives will contribute positive results for peace.

Background and Purpose: Lengthy wait times for diagnostic imaging often stem from unresolved financial clearance at check-in, undermining patient experience and operational efficiency. This quality improvement study evaluated a three-part intervention—securing authorization before arrival, proactively flagging accounts lacking authorization, and resolving flagged accounts within one hour of check-in—to reduce lobby delays and improve patient satisfaction.
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 4,585 patient records from January 2016 through May 2022. Pre-intervention data (February 2016–December 2019) were compared with post-intervention data (January 2020–May 2022). Interventions included: (1) obtaining financial authorization before patients arrived for their appointments, (2) flagging any account lacking authorization so that front-desk staff could immediately engage the Financial Clearance Center (FCC), and (3) targeting same-day clearance within one hour for flagged accounts. Patient Service Coordinators at 11 front desks recorded lobby wait intervals. Statistical analyses and visualizations were conducted using Excel, Minitab, and Tableau; significance was assessed via two-sample t-tests.
Results: Despite a 56 percent rise in imaging volume during the post-intervention period, the average lobby wait time for financial clearance decreased from 61.1 ± 76.3 minutes to 44.1 ± 61.1 minutes (p < 0.0001). The percentage of patients cleared before arrival improved modestly, remaining above 99 percent even amid COVID-19–related FCC staffing shortages. Patients waiting less than 30 minutes for clearance rose from 48.1 percent pre-intervention to 58.2 percent post-intervention, while those waiting over one hour declined by 9.5 percentage points. The number of accounts flagged tripled—from an annual average of ~330 before 2020 to ~1,000 afterward—demonstrating consistent capture of unresolved authorizations without increasing long-wait cases.
Conclusion: Proactive coordination between front-desk staff and the FCC—focused on pre-arrival authorization, systematic flagging, and rapid same-day clearance—significantly reduced lobby wait times, even with increased patient volume and pandemic pressures. Institutions should continue investing in real-time financial clearance workflows to sustain and expand upon these improvements.

The authors have been involved in the Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Medicine (JSPM), and their recent activities include multifaceted approaches such as mindfulness, subjective happiness, well-being, socioemotional competencies (SEC), social media engagement (SME), education, and culture. Findings from several studies indicate that the four elements—mindfulness/meditation, happiness/well-being, SEC, and SME—are interrelated through one-way or mutual influences. As SME increases, happiness tends to decrease, suggesting that frequent SME has an inhibitory effect on happiness. Cultural orientation emerged as a moderator influencing the relationship between SEC and happiness. The link between culture and happiness varies depending on cultural alignment and the context-dependence of self-esteem.

Human dignity has been important and in discussion for long in mental healthcare and related regions. Historically, the human rights revolution has emerged from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The dignity can be explained from two separate sources of internal and external dignity. They are self-respect (how I see myself), and respect from other people (how others see me) with related government, country, and community, and so on. The medical team would propose applicable perspectives as human dignity, dignity for identity, dignity of excellence, and attributed dignity. Further crucial factors are valuable for respect, empathy, communication, and autonomy.

Backgrounds: Skin cancer (SC) and skin aging (SA) are polygenic phenotypes posing significant health risks. While molecular biomarkers and related pathways for each have been studied separately, shared mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to identify shared biomarkers and mechanisms between SC and SA using gene expression profiling, offering new insights for future research. This study identified shared differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of the two phenotypes, their related important pathways, and interactions between significant functional proteins.
Method: DEGs of SA and SC were identified via LIMMA analysis based on mRNA datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus and ArrayExpress databases. Pathway enrichment analysis was conducted using the overrepresentation method to identify shared DEGs-associated KEGG pathways and GO terms. Using Cytoscape, protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed based on the STRING database. Core networks and top functional genes were identified using the MCODE plugin and CytoHubba plugin.
Results: Results showed SPRR1A and S100A2 as significant shared DEGs (GSE85358: P_SPRR1A = 0.0028, logFC_SPRR1A = -0.93; P_S100A2 = 0.0086, logFCS100A2 = -0.60; GSE2503: P_SPRR1A = 0.0089, logFC_SPRR1A = 2.5; P _S100A2 = 1.5, logFC_S100A2 = 0.0095; GSE3189: P_SPRR1A = 1.7E-07, logFC_SPRR1A = -3.4; P_S100A2 = 1.0E-14, logFC_S100A2 = -4.5). Those shared genes enriched in immune response, endothelial cell migration, cellular process, and peptide cross-linking. In PPI analysis, top hub genes of networks were PIK3R1, NANOG, VAV3, SMTN, SPRR1B, MET, MYLK, EPCAM, SPRR1A, and GATA3.
Conclusions: Our findings elucidate shared genetic architectures between SC and SA. The identification of shared genes and protein-protein interaction networks associated with both SA and SC suggests an underlying molecular genetic mechanism, offering opportunities to develop therapeutic strategies against SA and SC comorbidity.

Carbohydrates are defined as “sugars + dietary fiber,” and dietary fiber has been considered indigestible and therefore provides no energy (0 kcal/g). Much dietary fiber is fermented by intestinal bacteria to produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as acetic acid, propionic acid, and butyric acid. These SCFAs are partially absorbed by the host and used for metabolic energy, so dietary fiber contains “available energy”. Consequently, dietary fiber is generally classified into 3 groups and converted into energy equivalents, which are non-absorbed fibers as 0 kcal/g, partially fermented fibers as 1 kcal/g, and fairly completely fermented fibers as 2 kcal/g.