Biopsychosocial factors associated with physical activity among Resettlers of the former Soviet Union in Germany: a cross-sectional analysis.

Objective: Previous research suggests an overall lower cardiovascular disease mortality among ethnic German Resettlers from the Former Soviet Union. However, evidence points to a high burden of metabolic risk factors and chronic conditions among Resettlers, factors which are correlated to lower levels of physical activity. Thus, this study aims to assess factors associated with physical activity among Resettlers, by investigating the interplay between biopsychosocial factors and physical activity between men and women.

"Sometimes you have knowledge but lack the equipment to save a life": perspectives on health system barriers to post-abortion care in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Background: Abortion is largely restricted in Liberia and Sierra Leone, with exceptions under limited conditions. Consequently, women and girls seeking induced abortion care in these settings resort to unsafe methods, resulting in severe complications. Post-abortion care (PAC) is a lifesaving obstetric intervention to address abortion-related complications, but access to quality and comprehensive PAC in health facilities is daunting.

"The ones at the bottom of the food chain": structural drivers of unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion amongst adolescent girls in Zambia.

Background: Access to safe abortion care is highly unequal and fundamentally rooted in socioeconomic inequalities which are amplified by restrictive social norms and legal systems. We analyse these inequalities along the reproductive health continuum amongst adolescent girls in Zambia.

Methodology: This paper draws from 20 focus group discussions conducted in 2021 with community members (young/adult) in five urban, peri urban, and rural sites in Zambia.

Achieving unprecedented stability in lyophilized recombinase polymerase amplification with thermostable pyruvate kinase from Thermotoga maritima.

Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) is an isothermal DNA amplification reaction at around 41 °C using recombinase (Rec), single-stranded DNA-binding protein (SSB), strand-displacing DNA polymerase (Pol), and an ATP-regenerating enzyme. Considering the onsite use of RPA reagents, lyophilized RPA reagents with long storage stability are highly desired. In this study, as one of the approaches to solve this problem, we attempted to use a thermostable pyruvate kinase (PK).

Barriers to post-abortion care service provision: A cross-sectional analysis in Burkina Faso, Kenya and Nigeria.

Despite several political commitments to ensure the availability of and access to post-abortion care services, women in sub-Saharan Africa still struggle to access quality post-abortion care, and with devastating social and economic consequences. Expanding access to post-abortion care while eliminating barriers to utilization could significantly reduce abortions-related morbidity and mortality. We describe the barriers to providing and utilizing post-abortion care across health facilities in Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Nigeria.

Increase in the solubility of uvsY using a site saturation mutagenesis library for application in a lyophilized reagent for recombinase polymerase amplification.

Background: Recombinase uvsY from bacteriophage T4, along with uvsX, is a key enzyme for recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA), which is used to amplify a target DNA sequence at a constant temperature. uvsY, though essential, poses solubility challenges, complicating the lyophilization of RPA reagents. This study aimed to enhance uvsY solubility.

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein D614G mutation using μTGGE.

Background: The accurate and expeditious detection of SARS-CoV-2 mutations is critical for monitoring viral evolution, assessing its impact on transmission, virulence, and vaccine efficacy, and formulating public health interventions. In this study, a detection system utilizing micro temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (μTGGE) was developed for the identification of the D614 and G614 variants of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

Methods: The in vitro synthesized D614 and G614 gene fragments of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein were amplified via polymerase chain reaction and subjected to μTGGE analysis.

Profil des utilisatrices et facteurs associés à la satisfaction des clientes de la qualité des soins après avortement au Burkina Faso: étude transversale menée dans six régions.

RésuméMalgré la dépénalisation de l'avortement et la gratuité des soins après avortement (SAA), les femmes Burkinabè vivent des relations difficiles avec les soignants. Cette étude vise à déterminer le profil des femmes recevant des SAA, leur perception de la qualité des SAA et ses déterminants dans des structures sanitaires publiques et confessionnelles du pays. Une enquête quantitative a été menée auprès de 2174 femmes vues pour des SAA et recrutées de façon exhaustive de 2018 à 2020.

"I wasn't sure it would work. I was just trying": an ethnographic study on the choice of abortion methods among young women in Kilifi County, Kenya, and Atlantique Department, Benin.

Background: Despite the increased availability of safe abortion methods in sub-Saharan Africa, women and girls continue to use unsafe abortion methods and procedures to terminate their unwanted pregnancies, resulting in severe complications, lifelong disabilities, and death. Barriers to safe abortion methods include restrictive laws, low awareness of safe abortion methods, poverty, and sociocultural and health system barriers. Nonetheless, there is a paucity of data on the decision-making around and use of abortion methods.

Why do most young women not take up contraceptives after post-abortion care? An ethnographic study on the effectiveness and quality of contraceptive counselling after PAC in Kilifi County, Kenya.

Post-abortion care (PAC) counselling and the provision of contraceptive methods are core components of PAC services. Nevertheless, this service is not uniformly provided to PAC patients. This paper explores the factors contributing to young women leaving health facilities without counselling and contraceptive methods.

Application of recombinant human pyruvate kinase in recombinase polymerase amplification.

Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) is an isothermal DNA amplification reaction at around 41°C using recombinase (Rec), single-stranded DNA-binding protein (SSB), strand-displacing DNA polymerase (Pol), and an ATP-regenerating enzyme. In this study, we attempted to use pyruvate kinase instead of creatine kinase (CK) that has been consistently used as an ATP-regenerating enzyme in RPA. Human pyruvate kinase M1 (PKM) was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified from the cells.

"They talked to me rudely". Women perspectives on quality of post-abortion care in public health facilities in Kenya.

Background: Access to safe abortion is legally restricted in Kenya. Therefore, majority women seeking abortion services in such restrictive contexts resort to unsafe methods and procedures that result in complications that often require treatment in health facilities. Most women with abortion-related complications end up in public health facilities.

Beyond abortion: impacts of the expanded global gag rule in Kenya, Madagascar and Nepal.

Since 1984, Republican administrations in the US have enacted the global gag rule (GGR), which prohibits non-US-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from providing, referring for, or counselling on abortion as a method of family planning, or advocating for the liberalisation of abortion laws, as a condition for receiving certain categories of US Global Health Assistance. Versions of the GGR implemented before 2017 applied to US Family Planning Assistance only, but the Trump administration expanded the policy's reach by applying it to nearly all types of Global Health Assistance. Documentation of the policy's harms in the peer-reviewed and grey literature has grown considerably in recent years, however few cross-country analyses exist.

Health systems' preparedness to provide post-abortion care: assessment of health facilities in Burkina Faso, Kenya and Nigeria.

Background: In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, access to abortion is legally restricted, which partly contributes to high incidence of unsafe abortion. This may result in unsafe abortion-related complications that demand long hospital stays, treatment and attendance by skilled health providers. There is however, limited knowledge on the capacity of public health facilities to deliver post-abortion care (PAC), and the spread of PAC services in these settings.

Modified uvsY by N-terminal hexahistidine tag addition enhances efficiency of recombinase polymerase amplification to detect SARS-CoV-2 DNA.

Background: Recombinase (uvsY and uvsX) from bacteriophage T4 is a key enzyme for recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) that amplifies a target DNA sequence at a constant temperature with a single-stranded DNA-binding protein and a strand-displacing polymerase. The present study was conducted to examine the effects of the N- and C-terminal tags of uvsY on its function in RPA to detect SARS-CoV-2 DNA.

Methods: Untagged uvsY (uvsY-Δhis), N-terminal tagged uvsY (uvsY-Nhis), C-terminal tagged uvsY (uvsY-Chis), and N- and C-terminal tagged uvsY (uvsY-NChis) were expressed in Escherichia coli and purified.

Cost of maternal near miss and potentially life-threatening conditions, Kenya.

Objective: To estimate the direct costs of treating women with maternal near misses and potentially life-threatening conditions in Kenya and the factors associated with catastrophic health expenditure for these women and their households.

Methods: As part of a prospective, nationally representative study of all women with near misses during pregnancy and childbirth or within 42 days of delivery or termination of pregnancy, we compared the cost of treating maternal near-miss cases admitted to referral facilities with that of women with potentially life-threatening conditions. We used logistic regression analysis to assess clinical, demographic and household factors associated with catastrophic health expenditure.

Development of robust isothermal RNA amplification assay for lab-free testing of RNA viruses.

Simple tests of infectiousness that return results in minutes and directly from samples even with low viral loads could be a potential game-changer in the fight against COVID-19. Here, we describe an improved isothermal nucleic acid amplification assay, termed the RICCA (RNA Isothermal Co-assisted and Coupled Amplification) reaction, that consists of a simple one-pot format of 'sample-in and result-out' with a primary focus on the detection of low copy numbers of RNA virus directly from saliva without the need for laboratory processing. We demonstrate our assay by detecting 16S rRNA directly from E.

Protocol for a scoping review of research on abortion in sub-Saharan Africa.

Introduction: Unsafe abortion is a leading cause of maternal mortality, and access to safe abortion services remains a public health priority in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). A considerable amount of abortion research exists in the region; however, the spread of existing evidence is uneven such that some countries have an acute shortage of data with others over-researched. The imbalance reflects the complexities in prioritization among researchers, academics, and funders, and undeniably impedes effective policy and advocacy efforts.

Optimization of reaction condition of recombinase polymerase amplification to detect SARS-CoV-2 DNA and RNA using a statistical method.

Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) is an isothermal reaction that amplifies a target DNA sequence with a recombinase, a single-stranded DNA-binding protein (SSB), and a strand-displacing DNA polymerase. In this study, we optimized the reaction conditions of RPA to detect SARS-CoV-2 DNA and RNA using a statistical method to enhance the sensitivity. In vitro synthesized SARS-CoV-2 DNA and RNA were used as targets.

Effectiveness of school-based interventions in delaying sexual debut among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Early sexual debut is associated with poor sexual and reproductive health outcomes across the life course. A majority of interventions aimed at delaying sexual debut among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have been implemented in schools with mixed findings on the effectiveness of such interventions. This systematic review will summarise and synthesise existing evidence on the effectiveness of school-based interventions in delaying sexual debut among adolescents aged 10-19 years.

Research priorities to support evidence-informed policies and advocacy for access to safe abortion care in sub-Saharan Africa.

A key obstacle to advocacy efforts to promote legal and policy reforms that ensure women's and girls' access to comprehensive abortion care (CAC) is the lack of relevant and timely evidence. This commentary outlines a research agenda-setting initiative that identified research priorities to support evidence-informed policy and advocacy for CAC access in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It involved three phases: 1) a landscape analysis; 2) research agenda co-creation with stakeholders, and 3) a validation exercise on research priorities.

Solvent engineering studies on recombinase polymerase amplification.

Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) is a technique that is used to specifically amplify a target nucleic acid sequence. Unlike the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), RPA is performed at a constant temperature between 37 and 42°C. Therefore, it can be potentially used for the onsite detection of various pathogens when combined with DNA extraction and amplicon detection techniques.