Guidance reconciliation and practice question prioritization for a World Health Organization's Ebola and Marburg Disease guideline.

Objectives: To describe the processes of reconciling overlapping guidance and prioritizing practice questions for a World Health Organization (WHO) guideline on Infection Prevention and Control for Ebola and Marburg disease.

Methods: This work involved the reconciliation of guidance, the generation of potential practice questions, and the prioritization of those questions. Contributors included the WHO secretariat, the WHO steering group, the guideline methodologists, and the guideline development group (GDG).

Evolution of WHO COVID-19 mask guidelines amid intense demands for rapid advice.

During a health emergency, there is an urgent need to rapidly develop guidelines that meet minimum quality standards, as exemplified by the development of WHO guidelines on mask use in health care and community settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Between January 2020 and October 2023, WHO developed 21 guideline updates on the use of masks as part of infection prevention and control (IPC) practices. Guideline developers had to deal with an ever-growing volume of evidence of variable quality.

Emergency infection prevention and control training in fragile, conflict-affected or vulnerable settings: a scoping review.

Background: It is uncertain what could be the best training methods for infection prevention and control when an infectious disease threat is active or imminent in especially vulnerable or resource-scarce settings.

Methods: A scoping review was undertaken to find and summarise relevant information about training modalities, replicability and effectiveness of IPC training programmes for clinical staff as reported in multiple study designs. Eligible settings were conflict-affected or in countries classified as low-income or lower-middle income (World Bank 2022 classifications).

Infection prevention and control studies for care of patients with suspected or confirmed filovirus disease in healthcare settings, with focus on Ebola and Marburg: an integrative review.

Objective: To review evidence pertaining to methods for preventing healthcare-associated filovirus infections (including the survivability of filoviruses in clinical environments and the chlorine concentration required for effective disinfection), and to assess protocols for determining the risk of health worker (HW) exposures to filoviruses.

Design: Integrative review.

Data Sources: PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar, internet-based sources of international health organisations (eg, WHO, CDC), references of the included literature and grey literature.

Pre-clinical validation of a pan-cancer CAR-T cell immunotherapy targeting nfP2X7.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell immunotherapy is a novel treatment that genetically modifies the patients' own T cells to target and kill malignant cells. However, identification of tumour-specific antigens expressed on multiple solid cancer types, remains a major challenge. P2X purinoceptor 7 (P2X7) is a cell surface expressed ATP gated cation channel, and a dysfunctional version of P2X7, named nfP2X7, has been identified on cancer cells from multiple tissues, while being undetectable on healthy cells.

Infection prevention and control for COVID-19 response in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh: an intra-action review.

Background: Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) is critical in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and is one of the pillars of the WHO COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan 2020. We conducted an Intra-Action Review (IAR) of IPC response efforts to the COVID-19 pandemic in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, to identify best practices, challenges, and recommendations for improvement of the current and future responses.

Methods: We conducted two meetings with 54 participants purposively selected from different organizations and agencies involved in the frontline implementation of IPC in Cox's Bazar district, Bangladesh.

Measurement of serum IgG in foals by radial immunodiffusion and automated turbidimetric immunoassay.

Hypogammaglobulinemia as a result of failure of transfer of passive immunity (FTPI) is an important risk factor for infectious disease in neonatal foals. The current gold standard for determining serum immunoglobulin concentrations is radial immunodiffusion (RID). The purpose of this study was to compare immunoglobulin concentrations measured by RID with those determined by an automated turbidimetric immunoassay (TIA), which has a much shorter turnaround time.

Assessment of tolerant sunfish populations (Lepomis sp.) inhabiting selenium-laden coal ash effluents. 3. Serum chemistry and fish health indicators.

Sunfish were collected from fly ash discharge-receiving streams to assess the possible effects of exposure to elevated selenium. Concentrations of selenium, copper, and arsenic were statistically higher in fish tissue (liver) samples from effluent-exposed fish than in reference fish. Several biomarkers were indicative of metal exposure and effect.

Assessment of tolerant sunfish populations (Lepomis sp.) inhabiting selenium-laden coal ash effluents. 1. Hematological and population level assessment.

Sunfish were collected from coal ash effluent-receiving streams and Ohio River watershed reference sites to assess the effects of exposure to low-level selenium concentrations. Selenium, copper, and arsenic concentrations were statistically higher in tissue samples from exposed fish than in reference fish. Leukopenia, lymphocytosis, and neutropenia were evident in exposed fish and were indicative of metal exposure and effect.