An observational analysis of the impact of indoor residual spraying in two distinct contexts of Burkina Faso.

Background: Indoor residual spraying (IRS) is a cornerstone malaria control intervention in Burkina Faso. From 2018 to 2021, non-pyrethroid IRS was implemented annually in two regions of Burkina Faso with distinct malaria transmission patterns, concurrently with annual seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC), and a mass insecticide-treated net (ITN) distribution in 2019.

Methods: A retrospective quasi-experimental approach was used to evaluate the impact of the 2018, 2020, and 2021 IRS campaigns on routinely reported confirmed malaria case incidence at health facilities.

Informing Hazard Identification and Risk Characterization of Environmental Chemicals by Combining Transcriptomic and Functional Data from Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem-Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes.

Environmental chemicals may contribute to the global burden of cardiovascular disease, but experimental data are lacking to determine which substances pose the greatest risk. Human-induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes are a high-throughput cardiotoxicity model that is widely used to test drugs and chemicals; however, most studies focus on exploring electro-physiological readouts. Gene expression data may provide additional molecular insights to be used for both mechanistic interpretation and dose-response analyses.

Reduction of malaria case incidence following the introduction of clothianidin-based indoor residual spraying in previously unsprayed districts: an observational analysis using health facility register data from Côte d'Ivoire, 2018-2022.

Background: Indoor residual spraying (IRS) using neonicotinoid-based insecticides (clothianidin and combined clothianidin with deltamethrin) was deployed in two previously unsprayed districts of Côte d'Ivoire in 2020 and 2021 to complement standard pyrethroid insecticide-treated nets. This retrospective observational study uses health facility register data to assess the impact of IRS on clinically reported malaria case incidence.

Methods: Health facility data were abstracted from consultation registers for the period September 2018 to April 2022 in two IRS districts and two control districts that did not receive IRS.

Evaluating scientific confidence in the concordance of in vitro and in vivo protective points of departure.

To fulfil the promise of reducing reliance on mammalian in vivo laboratory animal studies, new approach methods (NAMs) need to provide a confident basis for regulatory decision-making. However, previous attempts to develop in vitro NAMs-based points of departure (PODs) have yielded mixed results, with PODs from U.S.

Using routine health data to evaluate the impact of indoor residual spraying on malaria transmission in Madagascar.

Introduction: Indoor residual spraying (IRS) and insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) are cornerstone malaria prevention methods in Madagascar. This retrospective observational study uses routine data to evaluate the impacts of IRS overall, sustained IRS exposure over multiple years and level of spray coverage (structures sprayed/found) in nine districts where non-pyrethroid IRS was deployed to complement standard pyrethroid ITNs from 2017 to 2020.

Methods: Multilevel negative-binomial generalised linear models were fit to estimate the effects of IRS exposure overall, consecutive years of IRS exposure and spray coverage level on monthly all-ages population-adjusted malaria cases confirmed by rapid diagnostic test at the health facility level.

Effectiveness of community case management of malaria on severe malaria and inpatient malaria deaths in Zambia: a dose-response study using routine health information system data.

Background: Community case management of malaria (CCM) has been expanded in many settings, but there are limited data describing the impact of these services in routine implementation settings or at large scale. Zambia has intensively expanded CCM since 2013, whereby trained volunteer community health workers (CHW) use rapid diagnostic tests and artemether-lumefantrine to diagnose and treat uncomplicated malaria.

Methods: This retrospective, observational study explored associations between changing malaria service point (health facility or CHW) density per 1000 people and severe malaria admissions or malaria inpatient deaths by district and month in a dose-response approach, using existing routine and programmatic data.

Nurses' strategies for overcoming barriers to fundamental nursing care in patients with COVID-19 caused by infection with the SARS-COV-2 virus: Results from the 'COVID-NURSE' survey.

Aims: To identify strategies used by registered nurses and non-registered nursing care staff in overcoming barriers when providing fundamental nursing care for non-invasively ventilated inpatients with COVID-19.

Design: Online survey with open-ended questions to collect qualitative data.

Methods: In August 2020, we asked UK-based nursing staff to describe any strategies they employed to overcome barriers to delivering care in 15 fundamental nursing care categories when providing care to non-invasively ventilated patients with COVID-19.

A tiered approach to population-based in vitro testing for cardiotoxicity: Balancing estimates of potency and variability.

Population-wide in vitro studies for characterization of cardiotoxicity hazard, risk, and population variability show that human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM) are a powerful and high-throughput testing platform for drugs and environmental chemicals alike. However, studies in multiple donor-derived hiPSC-CMs, across large libraries of chemicals tested in concentration-response are technically complex, and study design optimization is needed to determine sufficient and fit-for-purpose population size considerations. Therefore, we tested a hypothesis that a computational down-sampling analysis based on the data from hiPSC-CM screening of 136 diverse compounds in a population of 43 non-diseased donors, including multiple replicates of the "standard" donor hiPSC-CMs, will inform optimal study designs depending on the decision context (hazard, risk and/or inter-individual variability in cardiotoxicity).

Fundamental nursing care in patients with the SARS-CoV-2 virus: results from the 'COVID-NURSE' mixed methods survey into nurses' experiences of missed care and barriers to care.

Background: Patient experience of nursing care is associated with safety, care quality, treatment outcomes, costs and service use. Effective nursing care includes meeting patients' fundamental physical, relational and psychosocial needs, which may be compromised by the challenges of SARS-CoV-2. No evidence-based nursing guidelines exist for patients with SARS-CoV-2.

Cardiotoxicity Hazard and Risk Characterization of ToxCast Chemicals Using Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes from Multiple Donors.

Heart disease remains a significant human health burden worldwide with a significant fraction of morbidity attributable to environmental exposures. However, the extent to which the thousands of chemicals in commerce and the environment may contribute to heart disease morbidity is largely unknown, because in contrast to pharmaceuticals, environmental chemicals are seldom tested for potential cardiotoxicity. Human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes have become an informative model for cardiotoxicity testing of drugs with the availability of cells from multiple individuals allowing testing of population variability.

A new approach method for characterizing inter-species toxicodynamic variability.

Inter-species differences in toxicodynamics are often a critical source of uncertainty in safety evaluations and typically dealt with using default adjustment factors. studies that use cells from different species demonstrated some success for estimating the relationships between life span and/or body weight and sensitivity to cytotoxicity; however, no apparent investigation evaluated the utility of these models for risk assessment. It was hypothesized that an model using dermal fibroblasts derived from diverse species and individuals might be utilized to inform the extent of inter-species and inter-individual variability in toxicodynamics.

Provoking a Cultural Shift in Data Quality.

Ecological studies require quality data to describe the nature of ecological processes and to advance understanding of ecosystem change. Increasing access to big data has magnified both the burden and the complexity of ensuring quality data. The costs of errors in ecology include low use of data, increased time spent cleaning data, and poor reproducibility that can result in a misunderstanding of ecosystem processes and dynamics, all of which can erode the efficacy of and trust in ecological research.

Human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes as an in vitro model in toxicology: strengths and weaknesses for hazard identification and risk characterization.

Introduction: Human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes is one of the most widely used cell-based models that resulted from the discovery of how non-embryonic stem cells can be differentiated into multiple cell types. In just one decade, iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes went from a research lab to widespread use in biomedical research and preclinical safety evaluation for drugs and other chemicals.

Areas Covered: This manuscript reviews data on toxicology applications of human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes.

The potential role of patent and proprietary medicine vendors' associations in improving the quality of services in Nigeria's drug shops.

Background: Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) play a major role in Nigeria's health care delivery but regulation and monitoring of their practice needs appreciable improvement to ensure they deliver quality services. Most PPMVs belong to associations which may be useful in improving their regulation. However, little is known about how the PPMV associations function and how they can partner with relevant regulatory agencies to ensure members' compliance and observance of good practice.

Population-based toxicity screening in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes.

The potential for cardiotoxicity is carefully evaluated for pharmaceuticals, as it is a major safety liability. However, environmental chemicals are seldom tested for their cardiotoxic potential. Moreover, there is a large variability in both baseline and drug-induced cardiovascular risk in humans, but data are lacking on the degree to which susceptibility to chemically-induced cardiotoxicity may also vary.

Malaria testing and treatment knowledge among selected rural patent and proprietary medicine vendors (PPMV) in Nigeria.

Background: Malaria is a leading cause of illness and death in Nigeria, but access of poor people to quality anti-malarial services remains low especially in the rural areas. Patent and proprietary medicine vendors (PPMVs) provide the majority of malaria treatment in rural areas, but little is known about their knowledge of malaria testing and treatment of uncomplicated malaria as recommended in the 2011 National Malaria Control Programme policy.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in two purposively selected states (Oyo and Bayelsa) in Nigeria with each state representing a different geographic and linguistic-ethnic region in the southern part of the country.

Effect of Supportive Supervision on Performance of Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are one of the primary tools used for parasitological confirmation of suspected cases of malaria. To ensure accurate results, health-care workers (HCWs) must conduct the RDT test correctly. Trained supervisors visited 3,603 facilities to assess RDT testing performance and conduct outreach training and supportive supervision activities in eight African countries between 2015 and 2017, using a 12-point checklist to determine if key steps were being performed.

Effect of Supportive Supervision on Competency of Febrile Clinical Case Management in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Since 2010, the WHO has recommended that clinical decision-making for malaria case management be performed based on the results of a parasitological test result. Between 2015 and 2017, the U.S.

Perspectives on Implementation Considerations and Costs of Malaria Case Management Supportive Supervision.

Between 2012 and 2017, the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative-funded MalariaCare project supported national malaria control programs in sub-Saharan Africa to implement a case management quality assurance (QA) system for malaria and other febrile illnesses.