Deworming children for soil-transmitted helminths in low and middle-income countries: systematic review and individual participant data network meta-analysis.

Intestinal parasites affect millions of children globally. We aimed to assess effects of deworming children on nutritional and cognitive outcomes across potential effect modifiers using individual participant data (IPD). We searched multiple databases to 27 March 2018, grey literature, and other sources.

Mass deworming for improving health and cognition of children in endemic helminth areas: A systematic review and individual participant data network meta-analysis.

Background: Soil transmitted (or intestinal) helminths and schistosomes affect millions of children worldwide.

Objectives: To use individual participant data network meta-analysis (NMA) to explore the effects of different types and frequency of deworming drugs on anaemia, cognition and growth across potential effect modifiers.

Search Methods: We developed a search strategy with an information scientist to search MEDLINE, CINAHL, LILACS, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Econlit, Internet Documents in Economics Access Service (IDEAS), Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS), Social Services Abstracts, Global Health CABI and CAB Abstracts up to March 27, 2018.

Sociodemographic, behavioral, and environmental factors of child mortality in Eastern Region of Cameroon: results from a social autopsy study.

Background: While most child deaths are caused by highly preventable and treatable diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria, several sociodemographic, cultural and health system factors work against children surviving from these diseases.

Methods: A retrospective verbal/social autopsy survey was conducted in 2012 to measure the biological causes and social determinants of under-five years old deaths from 2007 to 2010 in Doume, Nguelemendouka, and Abong-Mbang health districts in the Eastern Region of Cameroon. The present study sought to identify important sociodemographic and household characteristics of the 1-59 month old deaths, including the coverage of key preventive indicators of normal child care, and illness recognition and care-seeking for the children along the Pathway to Survival model.

Social autopsy study identifies determinants of neonatal mortality in Doume, Nguelemendouka and Abong-Mbang health districts, Eastern Region of Cameroon.

Background: Reducing preventable medical causes of neonatal death for faster progress toward the MGD4 will require Cameroon to adequately address the social factors contributing to these deaths. The objective of this paper is to explore the social, behavioral and health systems determinants of newborn death in Doume, Nguelemendouka and Abong-Mbang health districts, in Eastern Region of Cameroon, from 2007-2010.

Methods: Data come from the 2012 Verbal/Social Autopsy (VASA) study, which aimed to determine the biological causes and social, behavioral and health systems determinants of under-five deaths in Doume, Nguelemendouka and Abong-Mbang health districts in Eastern Region of Cameroon.

Social autopsy of neonatal mortality suggests needed improvements in maternal and neonatal interventions in Balaka and Salima districts of Malawi.

Background: The Every Newborn Action Plan calls for reducing the neonatal mortality rates to fewer than 10 deaths per 1000 live births in all countries by 2035. The current study aims to increase our understanding of the social and modifiable factors that can be addressed or reinforced to improve and accelerate the decline in neonatal mortality in Malawi.

Methods: The data come from the 2013 Verbal and Social Autopsy (VASA) study that collected data in order to describe the biological causes and the social determinants of deaths of children under 5 years of age in Balaka and Salima districts of Malawi.

The iap genes: unique arbitrators of cell death.

The iap family of anti-apoptotic genes, originally discovered in viruses, has grown considerably in the past two years with the addition of a number of evolutionary conserved cellular homologues. Although the mechanism(s) by which these novel proteins block cell death is still unknown, intriguing clues to their function have been revealed by the discovery of interactions between some of the IAP homologues and cellular proteins involved in carrying out apoptotic signalling. Here, Rollie Clem and Colin Duckett discuss how the various IAP proteins may function in regulating apoptosis.

Pathways of influence on equity in health.

An increasing number of studies are documenting the existence of inequities, and attention is now turning to exploring pathways through which they are generated and might be attacked. This appears to be an opportune time to consider what has been learned and what future directions might be taken by researchers to fill gaps in knowledge and make research more useful for policy interventions. This commentary briefly reviews some of the main contributions of past research that have possible relevance to pathways, considers what those pathways might include, and concludes with implications for future research.

Credit program outcomes: coping capacity and nutritional status in the food insecure context of Ethiopia.

This paper presents findings of a survey that was primarily intended as (1) an assessment of coping capacity in drought and food insecure conditions and (2) a microfinance program outcome study. A three group cross-sectional survey of 819 households was conducted in May 2003 in two predominantly rural sites in Ethiopia. Established clients of the WISDOM Microfinance Institution were compared with similar incoming clients and community controls.

Stressful neighborhoods and depression: a prospective study of the impact of neighborhood disorder.

Quantitative and qualitative research suggests that urban disadvantaged environments may be highly stressful to their inhabitants. Social disorganization may be deleterious to both physical and mental health. The relationships among perceptions of one's neighborhood, measures of social support and social integration, and level of subsequent depressive symptoms was examined with a community sample of 818 individuals screened for an HIV prevention intervention, most of whom were current or former drug users.

Haplotype diversity in the interleukin-4 gene is not associated with HIV-1 transmission and AIDS progression.

Interleukin-4 (IL-4) is a pleiotropic cytokine produced primarily by activated CD4(+) T lymphocytes, mast cells, and basophils. It modulates the functions of a variety of cell types involved with the immune response. This cytokine differentially regulates two major HIV-1 coreceptors and activates viral expression, and is thus a reasonable candidate gene for analyses in HIV-1/AIDS cohort studies.

Factors associated with human herpesvirus type 8 infection in an injecting drug user cohort.

Background: Human herpesvirus type 8 (HHV-8) has been infrequently studied in injecting drug user (IDU) populations.

Goal: To estimate the seroprevalence of HHV-8 and risk factors for infection in a cohort of 2,946 IDUs.

Study Design: In this nested cross-sectional study of 390 IDUs, lytic HHV-8 indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) was utilized to estimate the HHV-8 seroprevalence.

Informal HIV caregiving in a vulnerable population: toward a network resource framework.

For the impoverished and often stigmatized communities most affected by HIV/AIDS, needs for informal caregiving present tremendous demands on already limited resources. Traditional theoretical frameworks emphasize care needs as driving informal caregiving. The proposed theoretical framework emphasizes microsocial processes that may affect informal caregiving among economically disadvantaged populations.

The longitudinal association of lead with blood pressure.

Background: Several investigators have reported an association of blood lead or bone lead with increased blood pressure and hypertension, but questions remain concerning whether these effects are acute or chronic in nature.

Methods: In this longitudinal study, we evaluated the relation of lead, measured in blood and tibia, to changes in blood pressure between 1994 and 1998. We studied 496 current and former employees of a chemical-manufacturing facility in the eastern United States who had previous occupational exposure to inorganic and organic lead.

Validating the Functional Capacity Index as a measure of outcome following blunt multiple trauma.

Background: The validity of the Functional Capacity Index (FCI) is evaluated by examining its distributional characteristics, its correlation with other well-known measures of outcome and its ability to discriminate among persons with injuries of varying type and severity.

Methods: A telephone survey which included the FCI and the SF-36 was administered 1 year post-injury to 1240 blunt trauma patients discharged from 12 trauma centers. A subsample of 656 patients also completed the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) by mail.

Uncovering the historic environmental hazards of urban brownfields.

In Baltimore, over 1,000 vacant industrial sites persist across its urban landscape, yet little is known about the potential environmental health risks that may undermine future cleanup and redevelopment activities and the health of those in communities near these sites. This study examined the characteristics of urban brownfield properties in southeast Baltimore, Maryland, and screened sites for their potential environmental hazards. In addition, demographic and health data were evaluated to profile the social and health status of those in brownfield communities.

Segregation analysis of 389 Icelandic pedigrees with Breast and prostate cancer.

Breast cancer and prostate cancer are the most commonly occurring cancers in females and males, respectively. The objective of this project was to test the hypothesis that breast cancer in females and prostate cancer in males represent homologous cancers that may be controlled by one or more common unidentified genes that may explain some of the observed familial aggregation. We modeled the transmission of a breast-prostate cancer phenotype in 389 pedigrees ascertained through a breast cancer proband drawn from the Icelandic Cancer Registry.

Relationship between carotenoids and anaemia during acute uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in children.

A clinic-based cohort study in Kampala, Uganda, was conducted to examine the relationship between severe malarial anaemia and plasma micronutrients. Plasma carotenoids, retinol, vitamin E, and four trace metal concentrations were measured at enrollment and seven days later in 273 children, aged 1-10 year(s), with acute, uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Concentrations of plasma provitamin A carotenoids (p < 0.

Complement factor 3 mediates particulate matter-induced airway hyperresponsiveness.

Epidemiologic studies have suggested that exposure to airborne particulate matter (PM) can exacerbate allergic airway responses; however, the mechanism(s) are not well understood. We and others have recently shown that development of airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) may be a complement-mediated process. In the present study, we examined the role of complement factor 3 (C3) in the development of PM-induced AHR and airway inflammation by comparing responses between C3-deficient (C3(-/-)) and wild-type mice.

Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM): a statistical review of the literature.

Crisis intervention has emerged over the last 50 years as a proven method for the provision of urgent psychological support in the wake of a critical incident or traumatic event. The history of crisis intervention is replete with singular, time-limited interventions. As crisis intervention has evolved, more sophisticated multicomponent crisis intervention systems have emerged.

Alcohol's contribution to fatal injuries: a report on public perceptions.

Study Objective: We determine whether members of the public understand that alcohol contributes to each of the leading causes of unintentional-injury death in the United States and not just to motor vehicle-related fatalities. Public opinions of selected alcohol control policies were also assessed.

Methods: We used a national telephone survey of 943 adults, who were selected by random-digit dialing techniques.

Charting a course for the future of women's health in the United States: concepts, findings and recommendations.

The JHU Women's and Children's Health Policy Center, with the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau, undertook a review of the health of women in the United States and invited experts to develop recommendations on health policy, programs, practices and research. The review included published research, program reviews, and policy reports on women's physical health, mental health, and health behaviors, and on the effects of health services, systems and financing on their health. Based on trends in age, ethnic background, education, labor-force participation, marriage and childbearing among women, the results of the reviews, and the experts' consultation, several recommendations were made for a forward looking agenda.