Assessing Use, Usefulness, and Application of the High Impact Practices in Family Planning Briefs and Strategic Planning Guides.

Background: In global health, persistent barriers and challenges to bridging the gap between research and practice remain critical to address in most health areas. The High Impact Practices (HIPs) briefs and strategic planning guides aim to bridge the know-do gap in family planning (FP) by facilitating research utilization and knowledge sharing and also providing a summary of experiential knowledge from experts. The purpose of this qualitative study was to assess the use, usefulness, and application of these 2 knowledge products developed by the HIP Partnership for decision-makers and implementers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Projecting the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Child Marriage.

Purpose: The study projects the potential impact of COVID-19 on child marriage in the five countries in which the burden of child marriage is the largest: Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, and Nigeria.

Methods: The projected impact of the pandemic on child marriage is based on a Markov model. A review of empirical and theoretical literature informed construction and parameter estimates of five pathways through which we expect an elevated marriage hazard: death of a parent, interruption of education, pregnancy risk, household income shocks, and reduced access to programs and services.

Expression of stromal cell-derived factor-1 and of its receptor CXCR4 in liver regeneration from oval cells in rat.

Stromal cell-derived factor-1 is a chemokine that plays a major role during embryogenesis. Since stromal cell-derived factor-1 and its unique receptor CXCR4 are involved in the differentiation of progenitor cells, we studied the expression of this chemokine and of its receptor in hepatic regeneration from precursor oval cells. Hepatic regeneration was induced by treating rats with 2-acetylaminofluorene, and followed by partial hepatectomy.

Apoptosis of human hepatic myofibroblasts promotes activation of matrix metalloproteinase-2.

Liver fibrosis is potentially reversible after removal of the injurious agent. Fibrosis resolution is characterized by apoptosis of hepatic myofibroblasts and degradation of extracellular matrix components. Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) is involved in matrix remodeling.

Matrix metalloproteinase-2 activation in human hepatic fibrosis regulation by cell-matrix interactions.

Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) is involved in extracellular matrix remodeling. It is secreted as a proenzyme and activated by membrane type-MMPs (MT-MMP), such as MT1-MMP. In liver fibrosis, MMP-2 is highly expressed in myofibroblasts and may have a profibrogenic role.