Community health workers for health systems resilience during COVID-19: protocol for qualitative evidence synthesis.

Introduction: COVID-19 exposed the fragility of health systems, where even the most basic health services in high-income and low-income and middle-income nations could not withstand the health systems shock due to the pandemic. Community health workers (CHWs) can contribute to improving the resilience of health systems, specifically to withstand shocks and emergencies and to avoid disruptions of routine service delivery. We aim to explore and understand the 'individual' and 'systems-level' resilience factors that shaped the involvement of CHWs in the COVID-19 response.

Use of contraceptives, empowerment and agency of adolescent girls and young women: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: The evidence on adolescent empowerment, which involves access to personal and material resources for reproductive autonomy and economic equity, is limited. This systematic review assesses the use of contraceptives in empowering and strengthening the agency and vice versa among adolescents and young women.

Methods: We ran the searches in six electronic databases: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), The Campbell Library, MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE, Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and Web of Science.

Occupational health hazards of bidi workers and their families in India: a scoping review.

Background: Bidi workers and their families are exposed to harmful substances during bidi rolling, thereby jeopardising their health. We aimed to assess existing evidence on health conditions of bidi workers and their families in India.

Methods: We searched nine databases and relevant websites, and conducted citation screening to identify primary studies assessing occupational health hazards of bidi workers and their families.

Dehydroepiandrosterone Attenuates Astroglial Activation, Neuronal Loss and Dendritic Degeneration in Iron-Induced Post-Traumatic Epilepsy.

Iron-induced experimental epilepsy in rodents reproduces features of post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) in humans. The neural network of the brain seems to be highly affected during the course of epileptogenesis and determines the occurrence of sudden and recurrent seizures. The aim of the current study was to evaluate astroglial and neuronal response as well as dendritic arborization, and the spine density of pyramidal neurons in the cortex and hippocampus of epileptic rats.

Tools to assess quality of life in adults with chronic conditions in India: A scoping review.

Background: Chronic diseases are a major contributor to mortality, morbidity, and socio-economic costs globally, including in India. Quality of life (QoL) is an important patient-centered outcome for chronic disease. Measurement properties of tools for assessing QOL in the Indian context have not been assessed systematically.

A Comprehensive Review on Anti-Inflammatory Response of Flavonoids in Experimentally-Induced Epileptic Seizures.

Flavonoids, a group of natural compounds with phenolic structure, are becoming popular as alternative medicines obtained from plants. These compounds are reported to have various pharmacological properties, including attenuation of inflammatory responses in multiple health issues. Epilepsy is a disorder of the central nervous system implicated with the activation of the inflammatory cascade in the brain.

Outcomes in intervention research on snakebite envenomation: a systematic review.

Introduction: A core outcome set (COS) is a minimal list of consensus outcomes that should be used in all intervention research in a specific domain. COS enhance the ability to undertake meaningful comparisons and to understand the benefits or harms of different treatments. A first step in developing a COS is to identify outcomes that have been used previously.

Therapeutic Potential of Quercetin and its Derivatives in Epilepsy: Evidence from Preclinical Studies.

Quercetin is a polyphenolic bioactive compound highly enriched in dietary fruits, vegetables, nuts, and berries. Quercetin and its derivatives like rutin and hyperoside are known for their beneficial effects in various neurological conditions including epilepsy. The clinical studies of quercetin and its derivatives in relation to epilepsy are limited.

Diagnostic accuracy of screening tools for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in primary health care: Rapid evidence synthesis.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) contributed significantly to burden of diseases in India, with missed, incorrect, and delayed diagnosis in primary care. We conducted a rapid evidence synthesis, to summarize the evidence on accuracy of the screening tests for COPD in primary health care on request form State Health Resource Centre, Chhattisgarh.

Methods: Considering the rapid nature of decision making, our approach was to first search for existing systematic reviews.

Community health workers for pandemic response: a rapid evidence synthesis.

Introduction: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), affects 213 countries or territories globally. We received a request from National Health Systems Resource Centre, a public agency in India, to conduct rapid evidence synthesis (RES) on community health workers (CHWs) for COVID-19 prevention and control in 3 days.

Methods: We searched PubMed, websites of ministries (n=3), public agencies (n=6), multilateral institutions (n=3), COVID-19 resource aggregators (n=5) and preprints (n=1) (without language restrictions) for articles on CHWs in pandemics.