A framework for chronic care quality: results of a scoping review and Delphi survey.

Frameworks conceptualising the quality of care abound and vary; some concentrate on specific aspects such as safety, effectiveness, others all-encompassing. However, to our knowledge, tailoring to systematically arrive at a comprehensive care for chronic conditions quality (CCCQ) framework has never been done. We conducted a scoping review and Delphi survey to produce a CCCQ framework, comprehensively delineating aims, determinants and measurable attributes.

Harbingers of Hope: Scientists and the Pursuit of World Peace.

The ongoing wars in many regions-such as the conflict between Israel and Hamas-as well as the effects of war on communities, social services, and mental health are covered in this special editorial. This article emphasizes the need for international efforts to promote peace, offer humanitarian aid, and address the mental health challenges faced by individuals and communities affected by war and violence.

Living with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy during the first two COVID-19 outbreaks: a repeated patient survey in the Netherlands.

Background: Patients with facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD) suffer from slowly progressive muscle weakness. Approximately 20% of FSHD patients end up wheelchair-dependent. FSHD patients benefit from physical activity to maintain their muscle strength as much as possible.

[Internally displaced persons in Mali facing the COVID 19 pandemic: A qualitative study].

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated an already existing security crisis leading to massive population displacements that have been taking place since 2012.

Purpose Of Research: This study aims to explore the representations of internally displaced persons (IDPs) about the existence of COVID-19 and their knowledge about its signs, symptoms, modes of transmission and prevention measures.

Methods: The study was qualitative and exploratory.

Decolonisation initiatives at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium: ready for change?

In a global context, the pernicious effects of colonialism and coloniality are increasingly being recognised in many sectors. As a result, calls to reverse colonial aphasia and amnesia, and decolonise, are getting stronger. This raises a number of questions, particularly for entities that acted as agents of (previous) colonising countries and worked to further the progress of the colonial project: What does decolonisation mean for such historically colonial entities? How can they confront their (forgotten) arsonist past while addressing their current role in maintaining coloniality, at home and abroad? Given the embeddedness of many such entities in current global (power) structures of coloniality, do these entities really want change, and if so, how can such entities redefine their future to ensure that they are and remain 'decolonised'? We attempt to answer these questions, by reflecting on our efforts to think through and start the process of decolonisation at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp, Belgium.

Descriptive assessment of COVID-19 responses and lessons learnt in Cambodia, January 2020 to June 2022.

As a member state of the International Health Regulations 2005, Cambodia is continuously strengthening its capacity to respond to health emergencies and prevent the international spread of diseases. Despite this, Cambodia's capacity to prevent, detect and rapidly respond to public health threats remained limited at the onset of the pandemic, as was the case in most countries. This paper describes epidemiological phases, response phases, strategy and lessons learnt in Cambodia between 27 January 2020 and 30 June 2022.

How has Guinea learnt from the response to outbreaks? A learning health system analysis.

Introduction: Learning is a key attribute of a resilient health system and, therefore, is central to health system strengthening. The main objective of this study was to analyse how Guinea's health system has learnt from the response to outbreaks between 2014 and 2021.

Methods: We used a retrospective longitudinal single embedded case study design, applying the framework conceptualised by Sheikh and Abimbola for analysing learning health systems.

Ensuring continuity of care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Guinea: Process evaluation of a health indigent fund.

Background: The emergence of the COVID-19 has disrupted the health and socioeconomic sectors, particularly in resource-poor settings such as Guinea. Like many sub-Saharan countries, Guinea is facing shortcomings related to its fragile health system and is further affected by the passage of the Ebola virus disease. The pandemic has worsened the socio-economic situation of the poorest people, leading to their exclusion from health care.

Improving access to and use of maternal health services during COVID-19: Experience from a health system strengthening project in Guinea.

The purpose of this study was to document the experience of health providers' capacity strengthening during health crises and the contribution of such to the health system and the population resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic in Guinea. We conducted a cross-sectional study using routine data collected from 41 health facilities in the project intervention areas, including associative health centers, community health centers, and district hospitals,. These data covered the period between 2019 and 2021.

Leveraging smart glasses for telemedicine to improve primary healthcare services and referrals in a remote rural district, Kingandu, DRC, 2019-2020.

Background: Telemedicine enables new forms of medical consultation and is expanding worldwide. Patients in sub-Saharan Africa could potentially benefit substantially from telemedicine.

Objective: To improve primary healthcare services, especially referrals to the district hospital, for the population in three health centres in the rural district Kingandu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by introducing Smart Glasses, and leveraging them for telemedicine.

[Not Available].

Objective: The study aims to document the experience of integrating a mental health care package into the general health care system of Lubero district in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between 2011 and 2015, and more specifically, the effects of this integration on the access to and use of health services offering mental health care.

Method: This is a retrospective study using a case study design. Data collected from different project documents and an analytic review of the official reports of the Ministry of Public Health were used for an analysis of the results of the integration.

Retention of healthcare workers 1 year after recruitment and deployment in rural settings: an experience post-Ebola in five health districts in Guinea.

Background: Guinea undertook health workforce reform in 2016 following the Ebola outbreak to overcome decades-long shortages and maldistribution of healthcare workers (HCWs). Specifically, over 5000 HCWs were recruited and deployed to rural health districts and with a signed 5-year commitment for rural medical practice. Governance structures were also established to improve the supervision of these HCWs.

Inspiring Life in Frozen Communities: Supporting Migrant Women in Brussels to Regain Control over their Lives.

In Brussels, many migrant women without legal status have no or limited access to health care and other basic services. Their access to descent care is mainly hampered by a lack of information, limited financial resources and poor experiences in the past. Three non-governmental organisations joint efforts to help migrant women without legal status to come out of their isolation.

'Never let a crisis go to waste': post-Ebola agenda-setting for health system strengthening in Guinea.

Introduction: Guinea is a country with a critical deficit and maldistribution of healthcare workers along with a high risk of epidemics' occurrence. However, actors in the health sector have missed opportunities for more than a decade to attract political attention. This article aims to explain why this situation exists and what were the roles of actors in the agenda-setting process of the post-Ebola health system strengthening programme.

Improving access to mental health care and psychosocial support within a fragile context: a case study from Afghanistan.

As one article in a series on Global Mental Health Practice, Peter Ventevogel and colleagues provide a case study of their efforts to integrate brief, practice-oriented mental health training into the Afghanistan health care system at a time when the system was being rebuilt from scratch.

Carcinoma cell-derived chemokines and their presence in oral fluid.

Chemokines are important in inflammation and in carcinogenesis. We hypothesized that besides oro-laryngeal cancer, oral inflammatory states, such as periodontitis, may also influence the chemokine profile of oral fluid. The aim of this study was to characterize the chemokine isoforms in the oral fluid of patients with periodontitis and in the oral fluid of patients with head and neck cancer.

CC chemokine ligand-2 synergizes with the nonchemokine G protein-coupled receptor ligand fMLP in monocyte chemotaxis, and it cooperates with the TLR ligand LPS via induction of CXCL8.

During inflammatory reactions, endogenously produced cytokines and chemokines act in a network and interact with hormones and neurotransmitters to regulate host immune responses. These signaling circuitries are even more interfaced during infections, when microbial agonists activate TLR, RLR, and NLR receptors. On the basis of the discovery of synergy between chemokines for neutrophil attraction, we extend here this phenomenon between the chemokine MCP-1/CCL2 and the GPCR ligand fMLP or the TLR4 agonist LPS on monocytes.

Citrullination of CXCL10 and CXCL11 by peptidylarginine deiminase: a naturally occurring posttranslational modification of chemokines and new dimension of immunoregulation.

Interactions between chemokines and enzymes are vital in immunoregulation. Structural protein citrullination by peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD) has been associated with autoimmunity. In this report, we identified a novel naturally occurring posttranslational modification of chemokines, that is, the deimination of arginine at position 5 into citrulline of CXC chemokine ligand 10 (CXCL10) by rabbit PAD and human PAD2.

Stimulation of angiostatic platelet factor-4 variant (CXCL4L1/PF-4var) versus inhibition of angiogenic granulocyte chemotactic protein-2 (CXCL6/GCP-2) in normal and tumoral mesenchymal cells.

Chemokines affect inflammation and cancer through leukocyte attraction and angiogenesis. Here, we demonstrate that CXCL4L1/platelet factor-4 variant (PF-4var), a highly angiostatic chemokine, is poorly chemotactic for phagocytes and is inducible in monocytes by inflammatory mediators but remained undetectable in macrophages and neutrophils. In addition, CXCL4L1/PF-4var production by mesenchymal tumor cells was evidenced in vitro and in vivo by specific ELISA and immunohistochemistry.