Clinical outcomes of untreated adults living with chronic hepatitis B in The Gambia: an analysis of data from the prospective PROLIFICA cohort study.

Background: Expanding antiviral therapy to people with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection who are ineligible to receive treatment under current international criteria has been increasingly debated. Evidence to support this approach is scarce, especially in Africa. We aimed to address this knowledge gap by analysing the clinical outcomes of people with chronic hepatitis B in The Gambia who were untreated and ineligible for antiviral therapy at diagnosis.

Assessment of nebivolol efficacy in experimental models of toxoplasmosis: insights into parasite burden reduction and neuronal protection.

This study investigates the efficacy of nebivolol (NBV) in experimental models of toxoplasmosis, focusing on parasite burden reduction and neuronal protection. In the acute model of experimental toxoplasmosis, Swiss mice infected with RH strain tachyzoites received oral NBV chlorhydrate doses of 2 mg/kg/day and 4 mg/kg/day for 8 days. Treatment with NBV significantly reduced parasite burden compared to vehicle and standard drug (PYR) groups.

Diagnosis and Severity Assessment of COPD Using a Novel Fast-Response Capnometer and Interpretable Machine Learning.

Introduction: Spirometry is the gold standard for COPD diagnosis and severity determination, but is technique-dependent, nonspecific, and requires administration by a trained healthcare professional. There is a need for a fast, reliable, and precise alternative diagnostic test. This study's aim was to use interpretable machine learning to diagnose COPD and assess severity using 75-second carbon dioxide (CO) breath records captured with TidalSense's N-Tidal capnometer.

Machine diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease using a novel fast-response capnometer.

Background: Although currently most widely used in mechanical ventilation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, features of the carbon dioxide (CO) waveform produced through capnometry have been shown to correlate with V/Q mismatch, dead space volume, type of breathing pattern, and small airway obstruction. This study applied feature engineering and machine learning techniques to capnography data collected by the N-Tidal™ device across four clinical studies to build a classifier that could distinguish CO recordings (capnograms) of patients with COPD from those without COPD.

Methods: Capnography data from four longitudinal observational studies (CBRS, GBRS, CBRS2 and ABRS) was analysed from 295 patients, generating a total of 88,186 capnograms.

WHO guidance on mental health training: a systematic review of the progress for non-specialist health workers.

Objective: To assess existing literature on the effectiveness of mental health training courses for non-specialist health workers, based on the WHO guidelines (2008).

Design: A systematic review was carried out, complying with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses checklist.

Data Sources: After examination of key studies in the literature, a comprehensive search was performed within the following electronic databases on 31 May 2017: PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL (using EBSCOHost interface), Cochrane, Web of Science.

Public health interventions to protect against falsified medicines: a systematic review of international, national and local policies.

Background: Falsified medicines are deliberately fraudulent drugs that pose a direct risk to patient health and undermine healthcare systems, causing global morbidity and mortality.

Objective: To produce an overview of anti-falsifying public health interventions deployed at international, national and local scales in low and middle income countries (LMIC).

Data Sources: We conducted a systematic search of the PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases for healthcare or pharmaceutical policies relevant to reducing the burden of falsified medicines in LMIC.

Quantifying postural tremor in workers exposed to low levels of manganese.

The aim of this study was: (1) To determine the minimum number of characteristics necessary to discriminate between postural tremor recorded in control subjects (CO), in subjects exposed to manganese (MN), and in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), and (2) to examine the continuum of changes between the three groups examined. Workers previously exposed to Mn (n = 10), patients with PD (n = 10), and control subjects (CO) (n = 11) underwent a clinical examination. Blood Mn was measured at the end of exposure time for the MN group and 12 months later at the beginning of the experiment for all groups.