Prevalence of non-communicable disease risk factors among nursing staff in a low and middle-income country: A cross-sectional digital survey-based study.

Aim: To assess the prevalence of non-communicable disease risk factors among the nursing staff and educate them on prevention.

Background: Nursing staff is integral to the Indian community healthcare systems. Recent studies report a high prevalence of non-communicable diseases in Indian nursing staff.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on an online cancer screening training programme for healthcare providers in the public sector in India: learnings from a hub and spoke model perspective.

Introduction: This article elicits our experiences and strategic approaches to ensure the sustainability of the online capacity-building programmes for healthcare providers (HCPs) in comprehensive cancer screening through the 'Hub and Spoke' model during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Methods: During the first wave of COVID-19, training for three cohorts of medical officers (MO) (Batch-A) was ongoing (May-December 2020). The Indian health system abruptly shifted focus towards containing the COVID-19 spread, leading to new challenges in conducting training courses.

Asking physicians how best to implement cervical cancer prevention services in India: A qualitative study from Mysore.

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among Indian women. Screening is an effective prevention strategy, but achieving high screening rates depend upon identifying barriers at multiple levels of healthcare delivery. There is limited research on understanding the perspectives of providers who deliver cancer prevention services.

Challenges in setting up a primary human papillomavirus-DNA testing facility in a lower and middle income country: lessons learned from a pilot programme.

Introduction: Detection of high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) is the most sensitive test for the screening of cervical cancer. Although most high-income countries have adopted this strategy in their screening programme, there are a lot of barriers in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) in setting up this facility for screening. The lessons learned based on this experience can be useful for other LMICs in their first steps to integrate HPV testing into a screening programme.

Advanced virtual mentoring of dentists in oral cancer screening and tobacco cessation - An interventional study.

Context: Oral cancer is the third common cancer in India. Its mortality can be reduced through early detection and tobacco cessation ideally by dentists owing to their forte of work.

Aim: This study was conducted to discuss effectiveness of an advanced tele-mentoring programme in oral cancer screening and tobacco cessation for dentists across India.

Educational intervention on cervical and breast cancer screening: Impact on nursing students involved in primary care.

Introduction: Nurses are the foundation of the Indian health system. They play a crucial role in primary care and implementation of community-centered government health initiatives such as cancer screening. The purpose of this manuscript is to share the experience of this educational intervention study and emphasize the need for drastic medical education reforms to include curricula to strengthen knowledge about cancer screening among nursing students.

Concurrent Cervical and Anal High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Infection in Women Living With HIV: An Observational Case-Control Study.

Background: To evaluate the prevalence and correlates of concurrent uterine cervical and anal HR-HPV infections in women living with HIV (WLHIV).

Setting: A cross-sectional study was undertaken at a tertiary care hospital and linked ART center.

Methods: One hundred and forty-one WLHIV and 161 HIV-negative women were enrolled for cervical and anal cytology as well as HR-HPV testing using the HC2 method.

High Prevalence of Cervical High-Grade Lesions and High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Infections in Women Living with HIV: A Case for Prioritizing Cervical Screening in This Vulnerable Group.

Introduction: Women living with HIV (WLHIV) are at an increased risk of developing cervical precancerous lesions and cervical human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. This study aimed at evaluating the prevalence of cervical lesions and high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) infection in WLHIV in comparison to the HIV-negative women undergoing opportunistic screening. In addition, these findings among WLHIV were correlated with the clinic-demographic factors.

Feasibility of Training Community Health Workers in the Detection of Oral Cancer.

Importance: Visual screening for oral cancer has been found to be useful in a large randomized clinical trial in Kerala, India, showing substantial reduction in mortality. To address the shortage of medical personnel in resource-deficient regions, using the services of community health workers has been proposed as a strategy to fill the gap in human resources in health care.

Objective: To assess the feasibility of community health workers in screening and early detection of oral cancer using a mobile application capturing system.

Congenital Transformation Zone Mimicking Cervical Premalignant Lesion.

Introduction: Congenital transformation zone (CTZ) of the uterine cervix is a non-neoplastic, rare condition resembling high-grade lesions on colposcopic examination which leads to diagnostic dilemmas.Case DescriptionA multiparous woman was screened for cervical cancer. Visual inspection using acetic acid was positive for which further evaluation with colposcopy was done.

Evaluation of a Chip-Based, Point-of-Care, Portable, Real-Time Micro PCR Analyzer for the Detection of High-Risk Human Papillomavirus in Uterine Cervix in India.

Purpose: Currently available human papillomavirus (HPV) detection devices are expensive, requiring a continuous power supply, high-priced reagents, skilled laboratory personnel, and infrastructure. These make it difficult to implement primary HPV screening in high-risk (HR) populations, particularly in low-income settings such as in India. The objective of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of a point-of-care, portable, battery-operated device called Truenat, which detects 4 HR HPV genotypes (16, 18, 31, and 45), as a potentially cost-effective alternative to conventional HPV diagnostic tests.

Factors influencing the retention of participants in online cancer screening training programs in India.

Background: Online courses have broken the boundaries in imparting knowledge. While in western countries e-learning in medical education is well accepted, it is still an upcoming field in low- and middle-income countries like India. Attrition is a major threat to online courses world-wide.

Association of metabolic NCD risk factors with oral, breast and cervical precancers and cancers in India.

Objective: To find an association between metabolic non-communicable disease (NCD) risk factors (high blood pressure (BP), high random blood sugar (RBS) and overweight /obesity) and oral, breast, cervical cancers/precancerous or potentially malignant conditions.

Design: This is an observational study using convenience sampling. The participants were screened through opportunistic or population-based screening.

Malignant perivascular epithelioid tumor of the vagina: Report of a rare case with brief review of literature.

Perivascular epithelioid cell tumors (PEComas) are rare mesenchymal tumors with immunohistochemical co-expression of melanocytic and myoid markers. Vaginal PEComas have been described in only nine cases so far. We describe the case of a 65-year-old female with a large growth in the left lateral vaginal wall.

Leveraging Technology for Nation-Wide Training of Healthcare Professionals in Cancer Screening in India: a Methods Article.

The Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (ICMR-NICPR) has been conducting online cancer screening training certificate courses since 2017. Thereafter, multiple cohorts have been trained successfully in cancer screening using the Extensions for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) platform. A 14-week course was designed for various cadres of healthcare professionals (HCP), through which they were trained in cancer screening and their roles and responsibilities in implementing the population-based cancer screening, as per the operational framework released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

MAL adaptor (TIRAP) S180L polymorphism and severity of disease among tuberculosis patients.

Objective: Though several genetic variants have been recognized to be associated with susceptibility to Tuberculosis (TB) infection and disease, a recent observation on the association of TIRAP C975T (S180L) variants with TB disease severity in mice model prompted us to assess their relevance in humans. In addition, TIRAP variants have also been reported to be associated with varied circulating Interferon-gamma induced protein (IP-10) levels. We investigated the association of TIRAP variants with severity of TB disease and IP-10 production in humans, which may be useful in predicting poor clinical outcome.

Correction: Smoking, alcohol use disorder and tuberculosis treatment outcomes: A dual co-morbidity burden that cannot be ignored.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Reappraisal of cytology-histology correlation in cervical cytology based on the recent American Society of Cytopathology guidelines (2017) at a cancer research centre.

Objective: To assess the impact of recently published American Society of Cytopathology (ASC) guidelines (2017) on the conduct of cervical cytology-histology correlation (CHC).

Methods: A retrospective review was conducted for cervical biopsies with their corresponding conventional cervical smears over a 7.5-year period (January 2011-June 2018).

Smoking, alcohol use disorder and tuberculosis treatment outcomes: A dual co-morbidity burden that cannot be ignored.

Background: More than 20% of tuberculosis (TB) disease worldwide may be attributable to smoking and alcohol abuse. India is the second largest consumer of tobacco products, a major consumer of alcohol particularly among males, and has the highest burden of TB globally. The impact of increasing tobacco dose, relevance of alcohol misuse and past versus current or never smoking status on TB treatment outcomes remain inadequately defined.

Capacity Building of Gynecologists in Cancer Screening Through Hybrid Training Approach.

Training health care professionals (HCPs) is one of the most challenging and key factors for the success of a cancer screening program. In order to make this onerous task possible, a hybrid training model, combining the online knowledge-sharing tool of ECHO (Extension of Community Health Outcomes) and in-person training, was proposed by the National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR). The main aim of this article is disseminating our experience on the effectiveness of this hybrid model in training health care providers in cancer prevention.

Subtherapeutic Rifampicin Concentration Is Associated With Unfavorable Tuberculosis Treatment Outcomes.

Background: The relationships between first-line drug concentrations and clinically important outcomes among patients with tuberculosis (TB) remain poorly understood.

Methods: We enrolled a prospective cohort of patients with new pulmonary TB receiving thrice-weekly treatment in India. The maximum plasma concentration of each drug was determined at months 1 and 5 using blood samples drawn 2 hours postdose.

Cervical Cancer Screening Services at Tertiary Healthcare Facility: An Alternative Approach.

Introduction: India fights massive cervical cancer burden. This article highlights an innovative feasible approach enabling tertiary hospitals to contribute to cancer prevention without compromising their primary mandate to provide treatment. Methodology: Since 1979, National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR) support a tertiary hospital in cervical cancer screening through a satellite clinic.

Tuberculin skin test and QuantiFERON-Gold In Tube assay for diagnosis of latent TB infection among household contacts of pulmonary TB patients in high TB burden setting.

Background: World Health Organization (WHO) recommends systematic screening of high-risk populations, including household contacts (HHCs) of adult pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients, as a key strategy for elimination of TB. QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) assay and tuberculin skin test (TST) are two commonly used tools for the detection of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) but may yield differential results, affecting eligibility for TB preventive therapy.

Materials And Methods: A prospective cohort study of adult pulmonary TB patients and their HHCs were recruited in 2 cities of India, Pune and Chennai.