Global genomic surveillance of monkeypox virus.

Monkeypox virus (MPXV) is endemic in western and Central Africa, and in May 2022, a clade IIb lineage (B.1) caused a global outbreak outside Africa, resulting in its detection in 116 countries and territories. To understand the global phylogenetics of MPXV, we analyzed all available MPXV sequences, including 10,670 sequences from 65 countries collected between 1958 and 2024.

Seasonal influenza vaccination: A global review of national policies in 194 WHO member states in 2022.

Introduction: Seasonal influenza vaccination prevents severe influenza disease and death. The World Health Organization (WHO) encourages all countries to consider annual seasonal influenza vaccination for health workers, people with chronic conditions, older adults, pregnant women and other high-risk populations as relevant for their national context. This paper provides a global update on the status of countries' influenza vaccination policies and programmes as of December 2022.

Maryland's Global Budget Revenue Payment Model and Shifts in the Surgical Site of Care Among Medicare Beneficiaries.

Objective: To assess the association between the Global Budget Revenue (GBR) payment model and shifts to the outpatient setting for surgical procedures among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries in Maryland versus control states.

Summary Background Data: The GBR model provides fixed global payments to hospitals to reduce spending growth and incentivize hospitals to reduce the costs of care while improving care quality. Since surgical care is a major contributor to hospital spending, the GBR model might accelerate the ongoing shift from the inpatient to the outpatient setting to generate additional savings.

RhoGEF Tiam2 Regulates Glutamatergic Synaptic Transmission in Hippocampal CA1 Pyramidal Neurons.

Glutamatergic synapses exhibit significant molecular diversity, but circuit-specific mechanisms that underlie synaptic regulation are not well characterized. Prior reports show that Rho-guanine nucleotide exchange factor (RhoGEF) Tiam1 regulates perforant path→dentate gyrus granule neuron synapses. In the present study, we report Tiam1's homolog Tiam2 is implicated in glutamatergic neurotransmission in CA1 pyramidal neurons.

Detection of autism spectrum disorder-related pathogenic trio variants by a novel structure-based approach.

Background: Glutamatergic synapse dysfunction is believed to underlie the development of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Intellectual Disability (ID) in many individuals. However, identification of genetic markers that contribute to synaptic dysfunction in these individuals is notoriously difficult. Based on genomic analysis, structural modeling, and functional data, we recently established the involvement of the TRIO-RAC1 pathway in ASD and ID.

Young and resilient: Unraveling papillary thyroid cancer outcomes in males under 40.

Background: While males present with more adverse clinicopathologic features in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), younger age has previously been shown to be a favorable prognostic factor. We examined the combined effect of male sex and young age on PTC outcomes.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of a prospectively maintained database of thyroid cancer surgery patients (2000-2020) at a single quaternary care institution.

The overtreatment of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma in the community.

Introduction: Total thyroidectomy is the traditional primary approach for papillary thyroid cancer. However, recent evidence supports conservative management for low-risk tumors like papillary thyroid microcarcinomas (PTMCs). This study explores the adoption of these practices in our community, using a cancer database to analyze treatment strategies.

WHO's Investigations and Studies, Unity Studies: A global initiative creating equitable opportunities for enhanced surveillance, operational research, capacity building, and global knowledge sharing.

The World Health Organization's Unity Studies global initiative provides a generic preparedness and readiness framework for conducting detailed investigations and epidemiological studies critical for the early and ongoing assessment of emerging respiratory pathogens of pandemic potential. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the initiative produced standardized investigation protocols and supported Member States to generate robust and comparable data to inform public health decision making. The subsequent iteration of the initiative is being implemented to develop revised and new investigation protocols, implementation toolkits and work to build a sustainable global network of sites, enabling the global community to be better prepared for the next emerging respiratory pathogen with epidemic or pandemic potential.

Preclinical safety evaluation of continuous UV-A lighting in an operative setting.

Background: Germicidal ultraviolet (UV-C) light has been shown as an effective modality for disinfection in laboratory settings and in the operative room. Traditionally, short-wavelength UV-C devices, which have previously been shown to cause DNA damage, are utilized only for disinfection in pre- and post-operative settings and are not continuously active during operations. Continuous use of intraoperative UV light has potential to decrease pathogens and subsequent surgical site infections (SSIs), which arise in approximately 5-15% of operative cases.

A systematic review of venous thromboembolism mechanical prophylaxis devices during surgery.

Purpose: Hospitalisation and surgery are major risk factors for venous thromboembolism (VTE). Intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) and graduated compression stockings (GCS) are common mechanical prophylaxis devices used to prevent VTE. This review compares the safety and efficacy of IPC and GCS used singularly and in combination for surgical patients.

Protein 4.1N Plays a Cell Type-Specific Role in Hippocampal Glutamatergic Synapse Regulation.

Many glutamatergic synapse proteins contain a 4.1N protein binding domain. However, a role for 4.

ATLAS: A rationally designed anterograde transsynaptic tracer.

Neural circuits, which constitute the substrate for brain processing, can be traced in the retrograde direction, from postsynaptic to presynaptic cells, using methods based on introducing modified rabies virus into genetically marked cell types. These methods have revolutionized the field of neuroscience. However, similarly reliable, transsynaptic, and non-toxic methods to trace circuits in the anterograde direction are not available.

Short communication-Lessons learnt during the implementation of Unity-aligned SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence studies in Africa.

The WHO Unity Studies initiative engaged low- and middle-income countries in the implementation of standardised SARS-CoV-2 sero-epidemiological investigation protocols and timely sharing of comparable results for evidence-based action. To gain a deeper understanding of the methodological challenges faced when conducting seroprevalence studies in the African region, we conducted unstructured interviews with key study teams in five countries. We discuss the challenges identified: participant recruitment and retention, sampling, sample and data management, data analysis and presentation.

Faulty Metabolism: A Potential Instigator of an Aggressive Phenotype in Cdk5-dependent Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma.

Mechanistic modeling of cancers such as Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma (MTC) to emulate patient-specific phenotypes is challenging. The discovery of potential diagnostic markers and druggable targets in MTC urgently requires clinically relevant animal models. Here we established orthotopic mouse models of MTC driven by aberrantly active Cdk5 using cell-specific promoters.

Timing of seasonal influenza epidemics for 25 countries in Africa during 2010-19: a retrospective analysis.

Background: Using country-specific surveillance data to describe influenza epidemic activity could inform decisions on the timing of influenza vaccination. We analysed surveillance data from African countries to characterise the timing of seasonal influenza epidemics to inform national vaccination strategies.

Methods: We used publicly available sentinel data from African countries reporting to the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response FluNet platform that had 3-10 years of data collected during 2010-19.

Under-Representation of Racial Groups in Genomics Studies of Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Neoplasms.

Unlabelled: Not all populations are poised to benefit from advancing genomics in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-NEN), as genomics have focused on White patients. This study aimed to evaluate racial populations represented in genomic studies of GEP-NENs and to provide evidence of differential genomic findings between racial groups in GEP-NENs. Manuscripts analyzing DNA, RNA, or DNA methylation in GEP-NENs were queried using PUBMED and EMBASE.

Using the Moving To Opportunity Experiment to Investigate the Long-Term Impact of Neighborhoods on Healthcare Use by Specific Clinical Conditions and Type of Service.

We performed a secondary analysis of the Moving To Opportunity (MTO) social experiment to investigate the impact of different types of housing assistance and neighborhood environments on long-term patterns of health care use for specific conditions and across different types of health care services. MTO participants, who were randomized at baseline, were linked to up to 21 years of all-payer hospital discharge and Medicaid data. Among the 9,170 children at the time of randomization, those who received a voucher had subsequent hospital admissions rates that were 36% lower for asthma and 30% lower for mental health disorders compared to the control group; rates of psychiatric services, outpatient hospital services, clinic services and durable medical equipment were also lower among the voucher groups.

The Association of Socioeconomic Factors and Well-Differentiated Thyroid Cancer.

Introduction: Well-differentiated thyroid cancer (WDTC) is the most common thyroid malignancy, and the worldwide incidence is increasing. Early stage disease is curable with surgery. We hypothesized that patients who live at greater distances from health care institutions or have complicating socioeconomic barriers may present with more advanced diseases and have worse outcomes.

Results from the second WHO external quality assessment for the molecular detection of respiratory syncytial virus, 2019-2020.

Background: External quality assessments (EQAs) for the molecular detection of human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are necessary to ensure the standardisation of reliable results. The Phase II, 2019-2020 World Health Organization (WHO) RSV EQA included 28 laboratories in 26 countries. The EQA panel evaluated performance in the molecular detection and subtyping of RSV-A and RSV-B.

Transitioning the COVID-19 response in the WHO African region: a proposed framework for rethinking and rebuilding health systems.

The onset of the pandemic revealed the health system inequities and inadequate preparedness, especially in the African continent. Over the past months, African countries have ensured optimum pandemic response. However, there is still a need to build further resilient health systems that enhance response and transition from the acute phase of the pandemic to the recovery interpandemic/preparedness phase.