Adverse birth outcome research case definitions associated with maternal HIV and antiretroviral drug use in pregnancy: a scoping review.

Background: Adverse birth outcomes (preterm birth, low birth weight, small for gestational age, and stillbirth) seem to persist in infants born to people with HIV, even in the context of maternal antiretroviral therapy. However, findings have been disparate, inconclusive, and difficult to compare directly across settings, partly owing to variable outcome definitions. We aimed to collate, compare, and map existing adverse birth outcome definitions to inform a harmonized approach to universally measure these outcomes in studies including pregnant people with HIV.

Severity and Number of Substances Used are Independently Associated with Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence Over Time among People with HIV in the Current Treatment Era.

Substance use is associated with decreased antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence among people with HIV (PWH). Adherence plays a significant role in mediating the negative effects of substance use on HIV suppression and is a principal modifiable patient-level factor in improving HIV suppression and reducing ART drug resistance. Understanding substance use and ART adherence, particularly with rapidly changing substance use epidemiology and ART regimens, is vital to improving HIV care.

Defining and identifying the critical elements of operational readiness for public health emergency events: a rapid scoping review.

Introduction: COVID-19 showed that countries must strengthen their operational readiness (OPR) capabilities to respond to an imminent pandemic threat rapidly and proactively. We conducted a rapid scoping evidence review to understand the definition and critical elements of OPR against five core sub-systems of a new framework to strengthen the global architecture for Health Emergency Preparedness Response and Resilience (HEPR).

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, and Web of Science, targeted repositories, websites, and grey literature databases for publications between 1 January 2010 and 29 September 2021 in English, German, French or Afrikaans.

GRADE guidance 39: using GRADE-ADOLOPMENT to adopt, adapt or create contextualized recommendations from source guidelines and evidence syntheses.

Background And Objective: The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE)-ADOLOPMENT methodology has been widely used to adopt, adapt, or de novo develop recommendations from existing or new guideline and evidence synthesis efforts. The objective of this guidance is to refine the operationalization for applying GRADE-ADOLOPMENT.

Methods: Through iterative discussions, online meetings, and email communications, the GRADE-ADOLOPMENT project group drafted the updated guidance.

A Review and Economic Analysis of the Dapivirine Vaginal Ring as HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis for Women, to Inform South African Public-Sector Guidelines.

Background: South Africa has a high HIV incidence and oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is available as public-sector standard of care. Access to alternative prevention methods for women may further reduce HIV acquisition.

Setting: South African public sector.

Designing clinical trials to address alcohol use and alcohol-associated liver disease: an expert panel Consensus Statement.

Most patients with alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) engage in heavy drinking defined as 4 or more drinks per day (56 g) or 8 (112 g) or more drinks per week for women and 5 or more drinks per day (70 g) or 15 (210 g) or more drinks per week for men. Although abstinence from alcohol after diagnosis of ALD improves life expectancy and reduces the risk of decompensation of liver disease, few studies have evaluated whether treatment of alcohol use disorders will reduce progression of liver disease and improve liver-related outcomes. In November 2021, the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism commissioned a task force that included hepatologists, addiction medicine specialists, statisticians, clinical trialists and members of regulatory agencies to develop recommendations for the design and conduct of clinical trials to evaluate the effect of alcohol use, particularly treatment to reduce or eliminate alcohol use in patients with ALD.

Nurses' experiences of self-management support for adults with tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus coinfection.

Background: Professional nurses provide self-management support to adults (18 years and older) living with tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection to enable them to mitigate its impact on their lives. However, the experiences of professional nurses providing self-management support to adults with TB-HIV coinfection remain unclear.

Aim: This study explored and described the experiences of professional nurses on the provision of self-management support to adults living with TB-HIV coinfection in Greater Accra, Ghana.

Using a priority setting exercise to identify priorities for guidelines on newborn and child health in South Africa, Malawi, and Nigeria.

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest under-five mortality rate globally. Child healthcare decisions should be based on rigorously developed evidence-informed guidelines. The Global Evidence, Local Adaptation (GELA) project is enhancing capacity to use global research to develop locally relevant guidelines for newborn and child health in South Africa (SA), Malawi, and Nigeria.

Association of Alcohol Use with COVID-19 Infection and Hospitalization Among People Living with HIV in the United States, 2020.

Alcohol use was associated with elevated COVID-19 risk in the general population. People with HIV (PWH) have high prevalences of alcohol use. To evaluate the effect of alcohol use on COVID-19 risks among PWH, we estimated the risk of COVID-19 diagnosis and COVID-19-related hospitalization among PWH in routine care at 8 HIV primary care centers that contributed data to the Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems (CNICS) cohort according to their alcohol use just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Newborn and child health national and provincial clinical practice guidelines in South Africa, Nigeria and Malawi: a scoping review.

Background: Low and middle-income countries remain disproportionately affected by high rates of child mortality. Clinical practice guidelines are essential clinical tools supporting implementation of effective, safe, and cost-effective healthcare. High-quality evidence-based guidelines play a key role in improving clinical management to impact child mortality.

Exploring trial publication and research waste in COVID-19 randomised trials of hydroxychloroquine, corticosteroids, and vitamin D: a meta-epidemiological cohort study.

Background: The global research response to the COVID-19 pandemic was impressive, but also led to an infodemic and considerable research waste. Registered, but unpublished trials added to this noise. We aimed to determine the proportion of registered randomised trials of common COVID-19 treatments that were published and to describe the characteristics of these trials to examine the association between trial characteristics, publication status and research waste.

Disrupted executive cerebro-cerebellar functional connectivity in alcohol use disorder.

Background: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) affects 283 million people worldwide and its prevalence is increasing. Despite the role of the cerebellum in executive control and its sensitivity to alcohol, few studies have assessed its involvement in AUD-relevant functional networks. The goal of this study is to compare resting-state functional connectivity (FC) patterns in abstinent adults with a history of AUD and controls (CTL).

Building capacity for network meta-analysis in Sub-Saharan Africa: reflections and future direction.

Robust, relevant, comprehensive, and up-to-date evidence syntheses are the cornerstone for evidence-informed healthcare decisions. When considering multiple treatment options, network meta-analysis (NMA) systematic reviews play a key role in informing impactful decisions and clinical practice guidelines. However, the capacity and literacy to conduct NMA systematic reviews and interpret its results remains out of reach for many clinicians and review authors, especially in low-to-middle-income countries.

Quality of systematic reviews in African emergency medicine: a cross-sectional methodological study.

Introduction: Reliable systematic reviews are essential to inform clinical practice guidelines, policies and further research priorities in Africa. For systematic review findings to be trustworthy, they need to be conducted with methodological rigour and reported transparently. We assessed the methodological quality of systematic reviews published in African emergency medicine journals, comparing them to those published in international emergency medicine journals.

Evaluating the Sick Quitting Hypothesis for Frailty Status and Reducing Alcohol Use Among People With HIV in a Longitudinal Clinical Cohort Study.

"Sick quitting," a phenomenon describing reductions in alcohol consumption following poor health, may explain observations that alcohol appears protective for frailty risk. We examined associations between frailty and reductions in drinking frequency among people with HIV (PWH). At six Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems (CNICS) sites between January 2012 and August 2021, we assessed whether frailty, measured through validated modified frailty phenotype, precedes reductions in drinking frequency.

GRADE Concept 7: Issues and Insights Linking Guideline Recommendations to Trustworthy Essential Medicine Lists.

Objectives: Guidelines and essential medicine lists (EMLs) bear similarities and differences in the process that lead to decisions. Access to essential medicines is central to achieve universal health coverage. The World Health Organization (WHO) EML has guided prioritization of essential medicines globally for nearly 50 years, and national EMLs (NEMLs) exist in over 130 countries.

Advancing guideline quality through country-wide and regional quality assessment of CPGs using AGREE: a scoping review.

Background And Objective: Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are evaluated for quality with the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) tool, and this is increasingly done for different countries and regional groupings. This scoping review aimed to describe, map, and compare these geographical synthesis studies, that assessed CPG quality using the AGREE tool. This allowed a global interpretation of the current landscape of these country-wide or regional synthesis studies, and a closer look at its methodology and results.

Ketamine as adjunctive or monotherapy for post-intubation sedation in patients with trauma on mechanical ventilation: A rapid review.

Background: The effectiveness of ketamine as adjunctive or monotherapy for post-intubation sedation in adults with trauma on mechanical ventilation is unclear.

Methods: A rapid review of systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials, then randomized controlled trials or observational studies was conducted searching three electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library) and one clinical trial registry on June 1, 2022. We used a prespecified protocol following Cochrane rapid review methods.

Signal of harm in morphine use in adults with acute pulmonary oedema: A rapid systematic review.

Background: Heart failure affects nearly 65 million people globally, resulting in recurrent hospital admissions and substantial healthcare expenditure. The use of morphine in the management of acute pulmonary oedema remains controversial, with conflicting guidance and significant variation in practice. Synthesised evidence is needed to inform standard treatment guidelines and clinical practice.

Factors Contributing to Delays to Accessing Appendectomy in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review.

Background: Appendicitis is one of the most common emergency surgical conditions worldwide. Delays in accessing appendectomy can lead to complications. Evidence on these delays in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is lacking.

Best practice guidelines for professional nurses to provide self-management support to adults with tuberculosis-human immunodeficiency virus coinfection: A scoping review.

Background: Adults with tuberculosis-human immunodeficiency virus coinfection require professional nurses' support to manage their illness, treatment and its effect on their daily lives. This scoping review maps recommendations in clinical or best practice guidelines that guide professional nurses to provide self-management support to adults with tuberculosis-human immunodeficiency virus coinfection in primary healthcare settings.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review by searching for guidelines in six online databases, guideline clearing houses and search engines from 16th April 2022 to 25th May 2022.