Mixed-methods reproductive health knowledge, attitudes and practices survey of IDPs, returnees and host communities in Jonglei State, South Sudan.

Objectives: To understand the current state of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) among internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees and host communities in remote counties of Jonglei state.

Design: Cross-sectional, randomly sampled, mixed-methods, population-based household study.

Setting: Ayod, Nyirol, Fangak and Pigi counties of Jonglei, South Sudan.

Ebola disease: bridging scientific discoveries and clinical application.

The west Africa Ebola disease epidemic (2014-16) marked a historic change of course for patient care during emerging infectious disease outbreaks. The epidemic response was a failure in many ways-a slow, cumbersome, and disjointed effort by a global architecture that was not fit for purpose for a rapidly spreading outbreak. In the most affected countries, health-care workers and other responders felt helpless-dealing with an overwhelming number of patients but with few, if any, tools at their disposal to provide high-quality care.

Estimating the Distance Between Map Points May Be Related to Forms of Representing the Map´s Scale.

The way a map scale is represented plays a key role in comprehending it. In this research, we examined the relationships between the form of representation of the map's scale (numerical scale, linear graphic scale and circular graphic scale), the user's gender, and the distance between two map objects on user of the distance between two objects on the map (i.e.

Participatory development of training videos for respiratory equipment.

Problem: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, medical oxygen therapy was urgently needed for patients with hypoxaemia. Many low- and middle-income countries lacked the medical devices for oxygen therapy and experience in their use.

Approach: In addition to providing medical devices for oxygen therapy for countries in need, the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners developed training videos to help local health workers select, use and maintain this equipment.

Sex Differences in Cognitive Reflection: A Meta-Analysis.

The current study presents a meta-analytic review of the differences between men and women in cognitive reflection (CR). The study also explores whether the type of CR test (i.e.

New insights into the production, characterization and potential uses of vineyard pruning waste biochars.

Vineyard pruning waste (VP) can be converted into a useful char using pyrolysis as part of a valorization strategy. This study analyzed the effect of temperature (300 and 600 °C) and residence time (1 and 3 h) on an ample number of properties of VP derived biochars, including potential negative environmental impacts. The results showed a clear influence of temperature on biochar's properties and a weaker effect of residence time.

Emotion recognition through Spanish prosody in people with schizophrenia.

People with schizophrenia have deficits in the ability to identify emotions. An area of important dysfunction is the understanding of affective prosody, which can limit communication and social functionality. The objective of this study is to compare emotional recognition through prosody between a group of people with schizophrenia versus a control group without pathology, through the Reading the Mind in the Voice - Spanish Version scale (RMV-SV).

Applying the WHO-ICRC BEC course to train emergency and inpatient healthcare workers in Sierra Leone early in the COVID-19 outbreak.

Background: Treating critical illness in resource-limited settings during disease outbreaks is feasible and can save lives. Lack of trained healthcare workers is a major barrier to COVID-19 response. There is an urgent need to train healthcare workers to manage COVID-19.

VARSE: Android app for real-time acquisition and analysis of heart rate signals.

Background And Objective: nowadays, numerous mobile applications capable of measuring the Heart Rate (HR) are continuously being launched. However, these tools do not allow to record and label the acquired HR signals while users are doing activities such as practising sports or viewing images. They do not allow to perform simultaneous HR acquisition and real-time HRV analysis, either.

Risk Factors for Severity and Mortality in Adult Patients Confirmed with COVID-19 in Sierra Leone: A Retrospective Study.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious respiratory disease. There is no recommended antiviral treatment approved for COVID-19 in Sierra Leone, and supportive care and protection of vital organ function are performed for the patients. This study summarized the clinical characteristics, drug treatments, and risk factors for the severity and prognosis of COVID-19 in Sierra Leone to provide evidence for the treatment of COVID-19.

High Prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease Among People Living with Hypertension in Rural Sierra Leone: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction: Currently, there are no data on prevalence and associated risk factors of chronic kidney disease (CKD) among patients with hypertension in rural Sierra Leone.

Purpose: To estimate the prevalence and associated risk factors of CKD in rural Sierra Leone.

Patients And Methods: A cross-sectional study of hypertension patients aged between 18 and 75 years attending a non-communicable disease clinic at Koidu Government Hospital, Kono District, Sierra Leone was conducted between February and December 2020.

Implementation of a non-communicable disease clinic in rural Sierra Leone: early experiences and lessons learned.

This study is an evaluation of the first cohort of patients enrolled in an outpatient non-communicable disease clinic in Kono, Sierra Leone. In the first year, the clinic enrolled 916 patients. Eight months after the enrollment of the last patient, 53% were still active in care, 43% had been lost to follow-up (LTFU) and 4% had defaulted.

Reducing Decision to Incision Time Interval for Emergency Cesarean Sections: 24 Months' Experience from Rural Sierra Leone.

Background: This study aimed at describing the changes in the completeness of documentation and changes in decision to incision time interval of emergency cesarean sections after an audit and feedback project a rural hospital in Sierra Leone.

Methods: We documented and monitored the decision and incision times for emergency cesarean sections over the course of two years. Year one focused on the introduction of the project and year two focused on the continuous monitoring of the project.

Screening, Vaccination Uptake and Linkage to Care for Hepatitis B Virus among Health Care Workers in Rural Sierra Leone.

This study reports on the prevalence and risk factors of chronic HBV among health care workers (HCWs) in a rural secondary hospital in Sierra Leone. Additionally, data on the uptake of HBV vaccination among negatively tested HCWs and on the linkage to care among positively tested HCWs are presented. In December 2019, 781 HCWs were invited to a screening and vaccination campaign at Koidu Government Hospital in Kono District.

The COVID-19 pandemic: broad partnerships for the rapid scale up of innovative virtual approaches for capacity building and credible information dissemination in Africa.

The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has rapidly spread in Africa, with a total of 474,592 confirmed cases by 11 July 2020. Consequently, all policy makers and health workers urgently need to be trained and to access the most credible information to contain and mitigate its impact. While the need for rapid training and information dissemination has increased, most of Africa is implementing public health social and physical distancing measures.

Cognitive Reflection, Life Satisfaction, Emotional Balance and Job Performance.

Background: The validity of individual difference variables for predicting important life phenomena, such as job performance, has been studied for over a century. However, the relationships between some of them have scarcely been investigated. This paper presents a study on the relationship between cognitive reflection (CR), satisfaction with life (SWL), and emotional balance (EB) with job performance.

Screening and linkage to care for medical students with hepatitis B virus infection in Sierra Leone.

Purpose: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is considered a major public health concern for Sierra Leone. Although medical students are at increased occupational risk for HBV infection, little is known about the burden of HBV infection amongst medical students in Sierra Leone.

Methods: As part of a screening and vaccination campaign, a cross-sectional study on prevalence of HBV among medical students in Freetown was conducted in December 2019.

Seroprevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C among blood donors in Sierra Leone: A multi-year retrospective study.

Objectives: In Sierra Leone, very little data are available on hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence. Blood donor screening permits estimation of the prevalence of transfusion transmissible infections in a general open population. We analyzed blood donor data in Sierra Leone to estimate national viral hepatitis prevalence and identify risk factors for hepatitis infection among the donor population.

Evidence Based Recommendations for Designing Heart Rate Variability Studies.

Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis is a powerful instrument that provides information about the heart conditions. However, there exist some limitations in the use of HRV in the clinical practice. Examples are the lack of reference values for healthy populations, different HR (Heart Rate) acquisition systems, and varying software packages.

New filovirus disease classification and nomenclature.

The recent large outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Western Africa resulted in greatly increased accumulation of human genotypic, phenotypic and clinical data, and improved our understanding of the spectrum of clinical manifestations. As a result, the WHO disease classification of EVD underwent major revision.

Case Series of Severe Neurologic Sequelae of Ebola Virus Disease during Epidemic, Sierra Leone.

We describe a case series of 35 Ebola virus disease (EVD) survivors during the epidemic in West Africa who had neurologic and accompanying psychiatric sequelae. Survivors meeting neurologic criteria were invited from a cohort of 361 EVD survivors to attend a preliminary clinic. Those whose severe neurologic features were documented in the preliminary clinic were referred for specialist neurologic evaluation, ophthalmologic examination, and psychiatric assessment.

A Background Modeling and Foreground Detection Algorithm Using Scaling Coefficients Defined With a Color Model Called Lightness-Red-Green-Blue.

This paper presents an algorithm for background modeling and foreground detection that uses scaling coefficients, which are defined with a new color model called lightness-red-green-blue (LRGB). They are employed to compare two images by finding pixels with scaled lightness. Three backgrounds are used: 1) verified background with pixels that are considered as background; 2) testing background with pixels that are tested several times to check if they belong to the background; and 3) final background that is a combination of the testing and verified background (the testing background is used in places, where the verified background is not defined).