Seasonal malaria chemoprevention in a context of high presumed sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine resistance: malaria morbidity and molecular drug resistance profiles in South Sudan.

Background: Seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) using sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine plus amodiaquine (SP-AQ), is a community-based malaria preventive strategy commonly used in the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa. However, to date it has not been implemented in East Africa due to high SP resistance levels. This paper is a report on the implementation of SMC outside of the Sahel in an environment with a high level of presumed SP-resistance: five cycles of SMC using SPAQ were administered to children 3-59 months during a period of high malaria transmission (July-December 2019) in 21 villages in South Sudan.

Screening for K13-Propeller Mutations Associated with Artemisinin Resistance in Plasmodium falciparum in Yambio County (Western Equatoria State, South Sudan).

Artemisinin-combined treatments are the recommended first-line treatment of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, but they are being threatened by emerging artemisinin resistance. Mutations in pfk13 are the principal molecular marker for artemisinin resistance. This study characterizes the presence of mutations in pfk13 in P.

Erratum: Competency-based mental health supervision: evidence-based tool needs for the humanitarian context - ERRATUM.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1017/gmh.2022.

Plasmodium falciparum pfhrp2 and pfhrp3 Gene Deletions in Malaria-Hyperendemic Region, South Sudan.

Pfhrp2 and pfhrp3 gene deletions threaten the use of Plasmodium falciparum malaria rapid diagnostic tests globally. In South Sudan, deletion frequencies were 15.6% for pfhrp2, 20.

Viral suppression and HIV-1 drug resistance 1 year after pragmatic transitioning to dolutegravir first-line therapy in Malawi: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Many countries are now replacing non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)-based first-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) with a regimen containing tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, lamivudine, and dolutegravir (TLD). Recognising laboratory limitations, Malawi opted to transition those on NNRTI-based first-line ART to TLD without viral load testing. We aimed to assess viral load and HIV drug resistance during 1 year following transition to TLD without previous viral load testing.

Severity, symptomatology, and treatment duration for mental health disorders: a retrospective analysis from a conflict-affected region of northern Nigeria.

Background: Mental Health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) programs are essential during humanitarian crises and in conflict settings, like Nigeria's Borno State. However, research on how types of traumatic stress and symptom severity affect clinical improvement is lacking in these contexts, as is consensus over how long these patients must engage in mental health care to see results.

Methods: Records from 11,709 patients from the MHPSS program in Pulka and Gwoza local government areas in Borno State, Nigeria from 2018 and 2019 were retrospectively analyzed.

Shifting to Tele-Mental Health in humanitarian and crisis settings: an evaluation of Médecins Sans Frontières experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: 'Tele-Mental Health (MH) services,' are an increasingly important way to expand care to underserved groups in low-resource settings. In order to continue providing psychiatric, psychotherapeutic and counselling care during COVID-19-related movement restrictions, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), a humanitarian medical organization, abruptly transitioned part of its MH activities across humanitarian and resource-constrained settings to remote format.

Methods: From June-July of 2020, investigators used a mixed method, sequential explanatory study design to assess MSF staff perceptions of tele-MH services.

Increased hepatitis C virus co-infection and injection drug use in HIV-infected fishermen in Myanmar.

Background: In Southeast Asia, though fishermen are known to be a key population at high risk of HIV, little is known about their co-infection rates with Hepatitis C virus (HCV), or how illness and risk behaviors vary by occupation or type of fishermen. In Myanmar, this lack of knowledge is particularly acute, despite the fact that much of the country's border is coastline.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis to assess clinical, demographic, and risk characteristics of HIV-infected, ≥15-year-old males under HIV care from 2004 to 2014.

Extremely low hepatitis C prevalence among HIV co-infected individuals in four countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

: A multicentric, retrospective case-series analysis (facility-based) in five sites across Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Uganda screened HIV-positive adults for hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies using Oraquick rapid testing and viral confirmation (in three sites). The results reveal a substantially lower prevalence than previously reported for these countries, suggesting that targeted integration of HCV screening in African HIV programs may be more impactful than routine screening.

IPT during HIV treatment in Myanmar: high rates of coverage, completion and drug adherence.

A southern Myanmar district providing isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) in one of the last countries to formally recommend it as part of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) care. To assess coverage and adherence and the feasibility of IPT scale-up in a routine care setting in Myanmar. A retrospective analysis of people living with HIV (PLHIV) screened for tuberculosis (TB) and enrolled in IPT over a 3-year period (July 2011-June 2014) using clinical databases.

High Proportions of Patients With Advanced HIV Are Antiretroviral Therapy Experienced: Hospitalization Outcomes From 2 Sub-Saharan African Sites.

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains an important cause of hospitalization and death in low- and middle- income countries. Yet morbidity and in-hospital mortality patterns remain poorly characterized, with prior antiretroviral therapy (ART) exposure and treatment failure status largely unknown.

Methods: We studied HIV-infected inpatients aged ≥13 years from cohorts in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), assessing clinical and demographic characteristics and hospitalization outcomes.

Long-term clinical, immunological and virological outcomes of patients on antiretroviral therapy in southern Myanmar.

Objective: To study the long-term clinical, immunological and virological outcomes among people living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Myanmar.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of people on ART for >9 years followed by a cross-sectional survey among the patients in this group who remained on ART at the time of the survey. Routinely collected medical data established the baseline clinical and demographic characteristics for adult patients initiating ART between 2004 and 2006.

Cancer Survivorship: Defining the Incidence of Incisional Hernia After Resection for Intra-Abdominal Malignancy.

Background: Cancer survivorship focuses largely on improving quality of life. We aimed to determine the rate of ventral incisional hernia (VIH) formation after cancer resection, with implications for survivorship.

Methods: Patients without prior VIH who underwent abdominal malignancy resections at a tertiary center were followed up to 2 years.

Evaluation of long-term surgical site occurrences in ventral hernia repair: implications of preoperative site independent MRSA infection.

Purpose: Previous work demonstrated that prior MRSA infection [MRSA(+)] is associated with 30-day surgical site infection (SSI) following ventral hernia repair (VHR). We aimed to determine the impact of MRSA(+) on long-term wound outcomes after VHR.

Participants: A retrospective cohort study was performed at a tertiary center between July 11, 2005, and May 18, 2012, of patients undergoing elective VHR with class I wounds.

Patient reported outcomes after incisional hernia repair-establishing the ventral hernia recurrence inventory.

Background: Assessing incisional hernia recurrence typically requires a clinical encounter. We sought to determine if patient-reported outcomes (PROs) could detect long-term recurrence.

Methods: Adult patients 1 to 5 years after incisional hernia repair were prospectively asked about recurrence, bulge, and pain at the original repair site.

Previous Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infection Independent of Body Site Increases Odds of Surgical Site Infection after Ventral Hernia Repair.

Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections can be difficult to manage in ventral hernia repair (VHR). We aimed to determine whether a history of preoperative MRSA infection, regardless of site, confers increased odds of 30-day surgical site infection (SSI) after VHR.

Study Design: A retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing VHR with class I to III wounds between 2005 and 2012 was performed using Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Perioperative Data Warehouse.

Incisional Hernia Classification Predicts Wound Complications Two Years after Repair.

Classification of ventral hernias (VHs) into categories that impact surgical outcome is not well defined. The European Hernia Society (EHS) classification divides ventral incisional hernias by midline or lateral location. This study aimed to determine whether EHS classification is associated with wound complications after VH repair, indicated by surgical site occurrences (SSOs).

Case report: patient portal versus telephone recruitment for a surgical research study.

Background: Patient portal adoption has rapidly increased over the last decade. Most patient portal research has been done in primary care or medical specialties, and few studies have examined their use in surgical patients or for recruiting research subjects. No known studies have compared portal messaging with other approaches of recruitment.

Picking up the bill - improving health-care utilisation in the Democratic Republic of Congo through user fee subsidisation: a before and after study.

Background: User fees have been shown to constitute a major barrier to the utilisation of health-care, particularly in low-income countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Importantly, such barriers can lead to the exclusion of vulnerable individuals from health-care. In 2008, a donor-funded primary health-care programme began implementing user fee subsidisation in 20 health zones of the DRC.

FLS tasks can be used as an ergonomic discriminator between laparoscopic and robotic surgery.

Introduction: Robotic surgery may result in ergonomic benefits to surgeons. In this pilot study, we utilize surface electromyography (sEMG) to describe a method for identifying ergonomic differences between laparoscopic and robotic platforms using validated Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) tasks. We hypothesize that FLS task performance on laparoscopic and robotic surgical platforms will produce significant differences in mean muscle activation, as quantified by sEMG.

Remodeling characteristics and collagen distribution in synthetic mesh materials explanted from human subjects after abdominal wall reconstruction: an analysis of remodeling characteristics by patient risk factors and surgical site classifications.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the associations between patient characteristics or surgical site classifications and the histologic remodeling scores of synthetic meshes biopsied from their abdominal wall repair sites in the first attempt to generate a multivariable risk prediction model of non-constructive remodeling.

Methods: Biopsies of the synthetic meshes were obtained from the abdominal wall repair sites of 51 patients during a subsequent abdominal re-exploration. Biopsies were stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and evaluated according to a semi-quantitative scoring system for remodeling characteristics (cell infiltration, cell types, extracellular matrix deposition, inflammation, fibrous encapsulation, and neovascularization) and a mean composite score (CR).

Remodeling characteristics and collagen distribution in biological scaffold materials explanted from human subjects after abdominal soft tissue reconstruction: an analysis of scaffold remodeling characteristics by patient risk factors and surgical site classifications.

Objective: The study purpose was to evaluate the associations between patient characteristics or surgical site classifications and the histologic remodeling scores of biologic meshes biopsied from abdominal soft tissue repair sites in the first attempt to generate a multivariable risk-prediction model of nonconstructive remodeling.

Background: Host characteristics and surgical site assessments may predict remodeling degree for biologic meshes used to reinforce abdominal tissue repair sites.

Methods: Biologic meshes were biopsied from the abdominal tissue repair sites of n = 40 patients during an abdominal reexploration, stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and evaluated according to a semi-quantitative scoring system for remodeling characteristics (cell types, cell infiltration, extracellular matrix deposition, scaffold degradation, fibrous encapsulation, and neovascularization) and a mean composite score.