Mixed study on barriers of access to prevention, diagnosis and treatment of gestational malaria in pregnant women at risk from an endemic region of Colombia.

Background: Gestational malaria (GM) is a serious public health problem, control of GM requires guarantee universal access to prevention, diagnosis and treatment. In Colombia, no studies have been conducted on barriers to healthcare access for pregnant women exposed to GM. The objective of this study was to analyse the barriers to healthcare access for women at risk of GM in an endemic region of Colombia.

Lifestyles associated with malaria in pregnancy in northwest Colombia: a mixed study from Latin American critical epidemiology.

Background: In the scientific literature on Malaria in Pregnancy (MiP), no studies have been conducted on lifestyles based on critical theory. The objective of this study was to analyse the lifestyles or singular processes of social determination of health in MiP in northwestern Colombia.

Methods: Mixed QUAN-QUAL convergent triangulation study.

Prospective study of malaria in pregnancy, placental and congenital malaria in Northwest Colombia.

Background: Pregnancy Associated Malaria (PAM) include malaria in pregnancy (MiP), placental malaria (PM), and congenital malaria (CM). The evidence available in Colombia on PAM focuses on one of the presentations (MiP, PM or CM), and no study longitudinally analyses the infection from the pregnant woman, passing through the placenta, until culminating in the newborn. This study determined the frequency of MiP, PM, and CM caused by Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium falciparum, or mixed infections, according to Thick Blood Smear (TBS) and quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR).

Prevalence of HIV, and Their Coinfection in Men Who Have Sex with Men, Medellín-Colombia.

Introduction: In Colombia, HIV and gestational syphilis are notifiable events; however, they are poorly investigated infections in men who have sex with men (MSM).

Objective: To determine the prevalence of HIV, , and their co-infection in MSM treated at a Health Services Provider Institution (HSPI) specialized in infectious diseases from Medellín.

Methods: Cross-sectional study with 3454 MSM.

Social representations of cancer in patients from Medellín, Colombia: a qualitative study.

Background: Cancer has different explanatory theories that address its etiology and treatment. It is usually associated with pain and suffering. Recently, new technologies, knowledge, and therapies have been developed, which may have transformed the classic social representations of the disease.

HIV in Three Groups of Young People from Medellín: General Population, Organizations for People with Socioeconomic Vulnerability, and Men Who Have Sex with Other Men.

Introduction: In Colombia, there are no studies that analyze the effect of socioeconomic vulnerability and belonging to the group of men who have sex with other men (MSM) on the prevalence of HIV in young people.

Objective: To compare the prevalence of HIV in three groups of young people from Medellín-Colombia: general population, socioeconomic vulnerability and MSM.

Methods: This cross-sectional analytical study included 2449 young people from the general population, 1736 from institutions that serve young people in situations of socioeconomic vulnerability, and 2269 MSM.

Influence of Positive Thinking Ideology on Physician Representations of Cancer.

Unlabelled: To understand the influence of positive thinking ideology on cancer representations among physicians in the city of Medellín.

Methods: This qualitative study was conducted on the basis of the theoretical and methodological elements of Corbin and Strauss's grounded theory. Fourteen physicians were included and selected according to the criteria of maximum variation for education, years of study, and personal and family history of cancer.

Social determination of malaria in pregnancy in Colombia: a critical ethnographic study.

Background: The meanings and experiences related to malaria in pregnancy (MiP) and its processes of social determination of health (PSDH) have not been reported in the world scientific literature. The objective was to understand the meanings and experiences of MiP, and to explain their PSDH in an endemic area from Colombia, 2022.

Methods: Critical ethnography with 46 pregnant women and 31 healthcare workers.

Interaction of histological events and physiological mediators in healthy placentas from malaria-endemic area in Colombia: An approach with a factorial model.

The biological study of the placenta is fragmented and focused on morbid events. The interaction of histological events and mediators of physiological processes in healthy placentas in malaria-endemic areas is unknown. This study aimed to build a factorial model for the convergence of events and mediators in healthy placentas of women living in northwestern Colombia through a study of 44 placentas.

Clinical and Parasitological Profiles of Gestational, Placental and Congenital Malaria in Northwestern Colombia.

This study compared the clinical-parasitological profiles of gestational (GM), placental (PM), and congenital (CM) malaria in northwestern Colombia. A cross-sectional study with 829 pregnant women, 549 placentas, and 547 newborns was conducted. The frequency of GM was 35.

A systematic review of mixed studies on malaria in Colombia 1980-2022: what the "bifocal vision" discovers.

Mixed methods are essential in public health research and malaria control, because they allow grasping part of the complexity and diversity of the factors that determine health-disease. This study analyzes the mixed studies on malaria in Colombia, 1980-2022, through a systematic review in 15 databases and institutional repositories. The methodological quality was assessed with Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT), STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE), and Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR).

Synthesis of Qualitative Evidence on Malaria in Pregnancy, 2005-2022: A Systematic Review.

Qualitative research on malaria in pregnancy (MiP) is incipient, therefore its contextual, experiential and symbolic associated factors are unknown. This study systematizes the qualitative research on MiP, describes knowledge, perceptions and behaviors about MiP, and compiles individual, socioeconomic, cultural and health system determinants of MiP through a meta-synthesis in 10 databases. A total of 48 studies were included with 2600 pregnant women, 1300 healthcare workers, and 2200 relatives or community members.

Explanatory Model of Psychogenic, Behavioral and Environmental Causal Attributions of Cancer, and Their Psychogenic, Biomedical and Alternative Treatment in the General Population of Medellín, Colombia.

Background: Understanding the causal attributions for cancer, the elements affecting therapeutic adherence, and behaviors that may compromise people's health or even put them at risk of dying from this disease has garnered a considerable degree of attention.

Methods: This study was designed in the city of Medellín with the aim to develop and validate a model for the study of (i) the categories that can be attributable to cancer etiology, (ii) the categories that can be attributed to the efficacy of treatment, and (iii) the relationship between the categories that can be attributed to the etiology and to the efficacy of the treatment. Structural equations were performed on 611 participants.

Diagnostic Accuracy of a Thick Blood Smear Compared to qPCR for Malaria Associated with Pregnancy in Colombia.

This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of the thick blood smear (TBS) versus quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for the diagnosis of malaria associated with pregnancy (MAP) caused by or in Colombia in its gestational malaria (GM), placental malaria (PM), and congenital malaria (CM) forms as well as to compare its accuracy in different subgroups of pregnant women according to the presence of fever, anemia and a history of malaria. This was a diagnostic evaluation of 829 pregnant women, 579 placentas, 381 umbilical cord samples, and 221 neonatal peripheral blood samples. Accuracy was evaluated based on the parameters of sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, likelihood ratios, and validity index, with their 95% confidence intervals.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Seroprevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV and HTLV I-II in a Blood Bank in Medellín, Colombia, 2019-2022.

The objective of this research was to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on seroprevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV and HTLV I-II in donors from a blood bank in Medellin, Colombia, 2019-2022. A cross-sectional analytical study was carried out with three groups: pre-pandemic with 14,879 donors; preventive isolation with 9035; and selective isolation + new normality with 26,647 subjects. Comparisons were made with Chi and Bonferroni adjustment, Kruskal-Wallis' H with Dunnett's post-hoc, prevalence ratios, and multivariate logistic regression.

Systematic Review of Mixed Studies on Malaria in Pregnancy: Individual, Cultural and Socioeconomic Determinants of Its Treatment and Prevention.

Malaria in pregnancy (MiP) is a global public health problem; its research is predominantly quantitative. The objective was to analyze the individual, cultural and socioeconomic determinants of the treatment and prevention of MiP with a systematic review of mixed studies (search had no date restriction). Reproducibility and evaluation of the methodological quality were guaranteed.

Systematic review of the diagnostic accuracy of thick smear compared to polymerase chain reaction for pregnancy-associated malaria, 2010-2022.

Objective.: To evaluate the accuracy of thick smear (TS) versus quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for pregnancy-associated malaria (PAM).

Materials And Methods.

The Relation of Ideology of Positive Thinking with the Perception of Cancer Risk and Ways of Treating It in Medellin, Colombia.

Purpose: This study has the following objectives: i) to construct an instrument to measure positive thinking ideology (PTI) regarding cancer, and to evaluate its psychometric properties, ii) to describe the effects of PTI on cancer risk and its treatment, and iii) to identify the associated factors with PTI in the study group.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 611 people from the Medellin, Colombia. Participants were selected through stratified sampling with proportional assignment.

Healthcare Inequities Experienced by Patients with Cancer: A Qualitative Study in Medellín, Colombia.

Purpose: This study aimed to understand the lived experiences of patients with cancer that facing inequities in oncological care in the city of Medellín.

Patients And Methods: A qualitative study was conducted based on the theoretical and methodological elements of the grounded theory, specifically the description and conceptual ordering of Corbin and Strauss. Sixteen patients with cancer, who belonged to low (n=5), middle (n=4) and high (n=7) social classes, were included by theoretical sampling with category saturation.

Frequency of gestational malaria and maternal-neonatal outcomes, in Northwestern Colombia 2009-2020.

Research on Gestational Malaria (GM) is scarce in America's. In the few available studies in Colombia, the analysis of immunological or parasitological aspects predominates, with few analyzes of epidemiological aspects. The objectives were to determine the frequency of GM and submicroscopic infections (positive with PCR and negative with thick blood smears), to identify obstetric and malaria history associated with GM, and to describe maternal and neonatal outcomes associated with GM, in northwestern Colombia.

Frequency of placental malaria and its associated factors in northwestern Colombia, pooled analysis 2009-2020.

Knowledge about placental malaria (PM) is insufficient in the world, and incipient in Colombia where studies are few and recent. In this country, PM has been reported by Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium falciparum, and mixed infection. The objective was to determine the frequency of PM and its associated clinical-epidemiological factors in mothers and neonates in northwestern Colombia, 2009-2020.

Comparison of Survival and Clinical Profile of Adults with COVID-19 Hospitalized in Two Clinics in Medellín, Colombia.

Purpose Of Review: This study compares the survival and clinical profile of hospitalized adults with COVID-19 in two clinics in the city of Medellín, Colombia, with a prospective study with 198 patients in clinic A and 201 in clinic B. Comparisons were made with chi-square and Mann-Whitney , factors associated with survival were identified with a Cox regression.

Recent Findings: The proportion of deaths was 7.

Congenital malaria: Frequency and epidemiology in Colombia, 2009-2020.

Congenital Malaria (CM) is an underestimated and under-researched problem in Colombia, despite its severe clinical, epidemiological, economic, and public health consequences. The objective was to determine the general frequency of CM, the specific frequency of CM by diagnostic test and plasmodial species, and identify its associated factors. A retrospective study was carried out using the records of 567 newborns.

Systematic review of preclinical studies on the neutrophil-mediated immune response to air pollutants, 1980-2020.

Preclinical evidence about the neutrophil-mediated response in exposure to air pollutants is scattered and heterogeneous. This has prevented the consolidation of this research field around relevant models that could advance towards clinical research. The purpose of this study was to systematic review the studies of the neutrophils response to air pollutants, following the recommendations of the Cochrane Collaboration and the PRISMA guide, through 54 search strategies in nine databases.

Placental malaria caused by Plasmodium vivax or P. falciparum in Colombia: Histopathology and mediators in placental processes.

Knowledge about the relation of histopathological characteristics and mediators of physiological processes in the placenta malaria (PM) is poor, and that PM caused by Plasmodium vivax is almost null. The objective was to compare histopathological characteristics, cytokines and mediators of physiological processes in PM depending on the parasitic species, through a cross-sectional study in three groups: negative-PM, vivax-PM, falciparum-PM from Northwestern Colombia. The diagnosis of PM was made with thick blood smear, qPCR, and histopathology.