Do COVID-19 Infectious Disease Models Incorporate the Social Determinants of Health? A Systematic Review.

Objectives: To identify COVID-19 infectious disease models that accounted for social determinants of health (SDH).

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, medRxiv, and the Web of Science from December 2019 to August 2020. We included mathematical modelling studies focused on humans investigating COVID-19 impact and including at least one SDH.

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.

Incorporating Social Determinants of Health in Infectious Disease Models: A Systematic Review of Guidelines.

Background: Infectious disease (ID) models have been the backbone of policy decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, models often overlook variation in disease risk, health burden, and policy impact across social groups. Nonetheless, social determinants are becoming increasingly recognized as fundamental to the success of control strategies overall and to the mitigation of disparities.

BETTER LIFE- guidelines for chronic disease preventive care for people aged 18-39 years: a literature review.

Background: The original 'BETTER' (Building on Existing Tools To Improve Chronic Disease Prevention and Screening in Primary Care) approach consisted of a prevention-focused visit between participants aged 40-65 years and a "Prevention Practitioner" (PP), who empowered the participant to set achievable prevention and screening goals for cancers and chronic diseases. BETTER was successfully adapted for economically deprived communities (BETTER HEALTH) in Canada. Our objective was to conduct a review of guidelines in preparation for adapting the 'BETTER HEALTH' approach for younger adults aged 18-39 years living with lower income, a group known to have earlier mortality due to a higher prevalence of preventable chronic diseases than their peers with higher income.

Trivalent and quadrivalent seasonal influenza vaccine in adults aged 60 and older: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

Objectives: To compare the efficacy of influenza vaccines of any valency for adults 60 years and older.

Design And Setting: Systematic review with network meta-analysis (NMA) of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). MEDLINE, EMBASE, JBI Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Database, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Evidence -Based Medicine database were searched from inception to 20 June 20, 2022.

Mathematical modelling of the influence of serosorting on the population-level HIV transmission impact of pre-exposure prophylaxis.

Objectives: HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) may change serosorting patterns. We examined the influence of serosorting on the population-level HIV transmission impact of PrEP, and how impact could change if PrEP users stopped serosorting.

Design: We developed a compartmental HIV transmission model parameterized with bio-behavioural and HIV surveillance data among MSM in Canada.

Population-Level Sexual Mixing According to HIV Status and Preexposure Prophylaxis Use Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in Montreal, Canada: Implications for HIV Prevention.

Using cross-sectional survey data (Engage, 2017-2018) from 1,137 men who have sex with men, ≥16 years old, in Montreal, we compared observed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seroconcordance in previous-6-months' sexual partnerships with what would have been observed by chance if zero individuals serosorted. Of 5 recent partnerships where both individuals were HIV-negative, we compared observed concordance in preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use with the counterfactual if zero individuals selected partners based on PrEP use. We estimated the concordance by chance using a balancing-partnerships approach assuming proportionate mixing.

Economic evaluation of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis strategies: protocol for a methodological systematic review and quantitative synthesis.

Background: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with antiretrovirals is an efficacious and effective intervention to decrease the risk of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) acquisition. Yet drug and delivery costs prohibit access in many jurisdictions. In the absence of guidelines for the synthesis of economic evaluations, we developed a protocol for a systematic review of economic evaluation studies for PrEP by drawing on best practices in systematic reviews and the conduct and reporting of economic evaluations.

A prognostic model for development of significant liver fibrosis in HIV-hepatitis C co-infection.

Background: Liver fibrosis progresses rapidly in HIV-Hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infected individuals partially due to heightened inflammation. Immune markers targeting stages of fibrogenesis could aid in prognosis of fibrosis.

Methods: A case-cohort study was nested in the prospective Canadian Co-infection Cohort (n = 1119).

Responder Interferon λ Genotypes Are Associated With Higher Risk of Liver Fibrosis in HIV-Hepatitis C Virus Coinfection.

Background: Liver fibrosis progresses faster in individuals coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Interferon λ3 (IFN-λ3) has both antiviral and proinflammatory properties. Genotypes at IFNL single-nucleotide proteins (SNPs; rs12979860CC and rs8099917TT) are linked to higher HCV clearance, potentially via rs8103142.

Favourable IFNL3 genotypes are associated with spontaneous clearance and are differentially distributed in Aboriginals in Canadian HIV-hepatitis C co-infected individuals.

Canadian Aboriginals are reported to clear Hepatitis C (HCV) more frequently. We tested the association of spontaneous clearance and three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near the Interferon-lambda 3 (IFNL3) gene (rs12979860, rs8099917, functional variant rs8103142) and compared the SNP frequencies between HIV-HCV co-infected whites and Aboriginals from the Canadian Co-infection Cohort. HCV treatment-naïve individuals with at least two HCV RNA tests were included (n = 538).

Evidence for a novel cryoprotective protein from freeze-tolerant larvae of the goldenrod gall fly Eurosta solidaginis.

Third-instar larvae of the goldenrod gall fly Eurosta solidaginis (Diptera: Tephritidae) from populations in northern North America transition from freeze-susceptible to freeze-tolerant just prior to the onset of winter. While studies have documented the accumulation of carbohydrate cryoprotectants during this transition, protein cryoprotectants common to other freeze-tolerant species have not been reported in the gall fly. Using larvae collected from a population in Madison County, NY, which changes from freeze-susceptible to freeze-tolerant in early October, we assayed for the presence of factors that could preserve the catalytic activity of the cold-labile enzyme, rabbit muscle lactate dehydrogenase.