Findings From the Todurujo na Kadurok (Empowering Youth) HIV Self-Testing and Edutainment Comic Randomized Controlled Trial With Refugee Youth in a Humanitarian Setting in Uganda.

Introduction: Humanitarian settings are underserved by HIV self-testing (HIV-ST).

Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of HIV-ST (Arm 1), HIV-ST alongside edutainment comics (Arm 2), and edutainment comics (Arm 3), compared with the standard of care (SOC), in increasing HIV testing with refugee youth aged 16-24 in the Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement, Uganda. Intervention effects on HIV testing at 3-month follow-up (T2) were assessed using generalized estimating equation models alongside open-ended questions.

Defining decision thresholds for judgments on health benefits and harms using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) Evidence to Decision (EtD) frameworks: a randomised methodological study (GRADE-THRESHOLD).

Introduction: GRADE and other Evidence to Decision (EtD) frameworks are widely used by guideline development groups (GDG) and other decision-makers. When GDGs judge the magnitude of desirable and undesirable health outcomes on EtDs, they typically categorize them as trivial, small, moderate or large. However, generic judgment or decision thresholds (DTs) that could guide the user about such estimates of effect size or serve as references for interpretation of findings are not yet available.

Interventions for the management of long covid (post-covid condition): living systematic review.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of interventions for the management of long covid (post-covid condition).

Design: Living systematic review.

Data Sources: Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycInfo, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from inception to December 2023.

Decolonization in sexual and reproductive health research methods: a scoping review.

Background: As researchers and practitioners in the field of global health continue to acknowledge the ongoing impact of colonialism in their work, the call for decolonized research has increased. This has particular relevance in the field of sexual and reproductive health. Despite this recognized need, there is no singularly agreed upon definition of what it means to conduct decolonized research using decolonized methodologies.

Tushirikiane-4-Uthabiti (Supporting Each Other For Resilience): study protocol of a mental health, HIV self-testing and livelihoods randomised controlled trial for advancing HIV prevention outcomes among urban refugee youth in Kampala, Uganda.

Introduction: Research with urban refugee youth in Uganda has documented co-occurring social (e.g., poverty) and health (e.

Missing outcome data in randomised clinical trials of psychological interventions: a review of published trial reports in major psychiatry journals.

Background: Missing outcome data can pose a serious threat to the validity of randomised clinical trial results. We aimed to study the extent of missing outcome data in randomised clinical trials of psychological interventions.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study of randomised clinical trial reports of psychological interventions published in World Psychiatry, JAMA Psychiatry, Lancet Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, British Journal of Psychiatry, or Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics from 2017 to 2022.

Can machine learning assist in systemic sclerosis diagnosis and management? A scoping review.

This scoping review aims to summarize the existing literature on how machine learning can be used to impact systemic sclerosis diagnosis, management, and treatment. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) reporting guidelines, Embase, Web of Science, Medline (PubMed), IEEE Xplore, and ACM Digital Library were searched from inception to 3 March 2024, for primary literature reporting on machine learning models in any capacity regarding scleroderma. Following robust triaging, 11 retrospective studies were included in this scoping review.

Coronavirus disease 2019 outcomes in a population-based cohort of people with HIV and a matched cohort of people without HIV during Omicron variant waves.

We found that rates of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing and reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR-confirmed infection were approximately 50% higher in a population-based cohort of people with HIV compared with a matched cohort of people without HIV during the Omicron era (2 January 2022 to 31 March 2023) in Ontario, Canada, after controlling for age, sex, residential census tract, and country of birth. Rates of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related hospitalization and/or death were more than double. Differences persisted independent of vaccination, healthcare access, and COVID-19 diagnosis.

Quality and completeness of, and spin in reporting of, pilot and feasibility studies in hip and knee arthroplasty: a protocol for a methodological survey.

Introduction: Pilot or feasibility trials examine the feasibility, viability and recruitment potential of larger, main trials. Specifically, a pilot trial can be instrumental in identifying methodological issues essential to the development of an effective research protocol. However, numerous studies published as pilot or feasibility studies have demonstrated notable inconsistencies in the nature of information reported, resulting in poor-quality and incomplete reporting.

Road to Recovery: protocol for a mixed-methods prospective cohort study evaluating the impact of a new model of substance use care in a Canadian setting.

Introduction: The Road to Recovery (R2R) Initiative is an innovative model of substance use care that seeks to increase treatment capacity by creating approximately 100 new addiction treatment beds to provide on-demand addiction care in Vancouver, British Columbia, for patients with substance use disorders. The new model also coordinates the region's existing clinical substance use services to support patients across a care continuum that includes traditional office-based addiction treatment and harm reduction services, early withdrawal management and more intensive abstinence-based treatment programming. To understand the impact of offering on-demand and coordinated substance use care, an observational cohort of individuals who access any R2R clinical service will be created to examine health and social outcomes over time.

Systematic scoping review of cluster randomised trials conducted exclusively in low-income and middle-income countries between 2017 and 2022.

Objective: Cluster randomised trials (CRTs) are used for evaluating health-related interventions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) but raise complex ethical issues. To inform the development of future ethics guidance, we aim to characterise CRTs conducted exclusively in LMICs by examining the types of clusters, settings, author affiliations and primary clinical focus and to evaluate adherence to trial registration and ethics reporting requirements over time.

Design: A systematic scoping review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews.

Antibiotic prophylaxis for the prevention of surgical site infections following colorectal surgery: protocol for network meta-analysis of randomized trials.

Background: Surgical site infections continue to be a significant challenge following colorectal surgery. These can result in extended hospital stays, hospital readmissions, increased treatment costs, and negative effects on patients' quality of life. Antibiotic prophylaxis plays a crucial role in preventing infection during surgery, specifically in preventing surgical site infections after colorectal surgery in adult patients.

Social-ecological factors associated with trajectories of adolescent sexual and reproductive health stigma: longitudinal cohort findings with urban refugee youth in Kampala.

Background Stigma towards sexually active young people presents profound barriers to uptake of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, including HIV testing and contraception. Yet, few studies have examined adolescent SRH stigma trajectories over time. To address this knowledge gap, we examined associations between social-ecological factors and trajectories of adolescent SRH stigma among urban refugee youth in Kampala, Uganda.

Intersecting Stigma and the HIV Care Cascade: Qualitative Insights from Sex Workers, Men who have Sex with Men, and Transgender Women Living with HIV in Jamaica.

In Jamaica, stigma experiences of sex workers (SW), gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM), and transgender women living with HIV remain understudied. To address this gap, we explored experiences of stigma and linkages with the HIV care cascade among key populations living with HIV in Jamaica, including cisgender women SW, MSM, and transgender women. This qualitative study involved n = 9 focus groups (FG), n = 1 FG per population living with HIV (SW, MSM, transgender women) in each of three sites (Kingston, St.

Integrating Clinical and Neuroimaging Markers to Predict the Onset of Posthemorrhagic Ventricular Dilatation in Preterm Neonates.

Background: Posthemorrhagic ventricular dilatation (PHVD) is a major complication of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH); it is associated with high risks of cerebral palsy and cognitive deficits compared with infants without PHVD. This study aims to explore the early perinatal risk factors-associated with the risk of progressive PHVD.

Methods: Neonates ≤29 weeks gestational age (GA) with Grade II-III IVH and periventricular hemorrhagic infarct (PVHI) between 2015 and 2021 were retrospectively reviewed.

Real-world evaluation of access-driven Canadian treatment sequences in progressive prostate cancer (REACTIVATE).

Introduction: The results of the phase 3 ALSYMPCA trial showed that Radium-223 (Ra-223) improves overall survival (OS) and delays onset of first symptomatic skeletal event vs. placebo in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The purpose of the REACTIVATE study was to inform the optimal placement of Ra-233 in the treatment sequence by evaluating clinical outcomes and healthcare resource utilization using real-world data from multiple Canadian provinces.

Statistical analysis plan for the SQUEEZE trial: A trial to determine whether septic shock reversal is quicker in pediatric patients randomized to an early goal-directed fluid-sparing strategy vs. usual care (SQUEEZE).

Background: The SQUEEZE trial is a multicentred randomized controlled trial which seeks to determine the optimal approach to fluid resuscitation in paediatric septic shock. SQUEEZE also includes a nested translational study, SQUEEZE-D, investigating the value of plasma cell-free DNA for prediction of clinical outcomes.

Objective: To present a pre-specified statistical analysis plan (SAP) for the SQUEEZE trial prior to finalizing the trial data set and prior to commencing data analysis.

Disparity between statistical and clinical significance in published randomised controlled trials indexed in PubMed: a protocol for a cross-sectional methodological survey.

Introduction: The commonly used frequentist paradigm of null hypothesis statistics testing with its reliance on the p-value and the corresponding notion of 'statistical significance' has been under ongoing criticism. Misinterpretation and misuse of the p-value have contributed to publication bias, unreliable studies, frequent false positives, fraud and mistrust in results of scientific studies. While p-values themselves are still useful, part of the problem may be the confusion between statistical and clinical significance.

Effects of guaranteed basic income interventions on poverty-related outcomes in high-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: High-income countries offer social assistance (welfare) programs to help alleviate poverty for people with little or no income. These programs have become increasingly conditional and stringent in recent decades based on the premise that transitioning people from government support to paid work will improve their circumstances. However, many people end up with low-paying and precarious jobs that may cause more poverty because they lose benefits such as housing subsidies and health and dental insurance, while incurring job-related expenses.

ROBVALU: a tool for assessing risk of bias in studies about people's values, utilities, or importance of health outcomes.

People’s values are an important driver in healthcare decision making. The certainty of an intervention’s effect on benefits and harms relies on two factors: the certainty in the measured effect on an outcome in terms of risk difference and the certainty in its value, also known as utility or importance. The GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations) working group has proposed a set of questions to assess the risk of bias in a body of evidence from studies investigating how people value outcomes.