Stable isotope tempestology of tropical cyclones across the North Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Ocean basins.

Tropical cyclones (TCs) are one of the major natural hazards to island and coastal communities and ecosystems. However, isotopic compositions of TC-derived precipitation (P) in surface water (SW) and groundwater (GW) reservoirs are still lacking. We tested the three main assumptions of the isotope storm "spike" hypothesis (sudden spikes in isotopic ratios).

Enhancing Knowledge and Beliefs: The Impact of a Gender-transformative Training Program on Tuberculosis Care in Southern Nigeria.

Background: Gender-related barriers significantly impede care-seeking for tuberculosis (TB), leading to poor treatment outcomes. This study aimed to assess changes in knowledge and beliefs following a training program on gender-transformative TB programming among stakeholders in Southern Nigeria.

Methods: A cross-sectional pretest/posttest design was employed to evaluate the training's effectiveness among participants from September 2023 to March 2024.

Access and coverage of malaria services in Haiti in the context of elimination: a scoping review of the literature.

Introduction: Haiti is on the verge of possibly eliminating malaria, an endemic parasitic infection primarily caused by Plasmodium falciparum on the island of Hispaniola. Owing to its associated morbidity and mortality, malaria is a leading public health priority in Haiti. This scoping review aims to identify the scope of research on access and coverage of malaria surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment in Haiti in the elimination setting.

Prevalence of Dirofilaria immitis in dogs in Jamaica.

Dirofilaria immitis is a zoonotic vector-borne parasite that causes heartworm disease most commonly in canines. Although present in the Caribbean, no published work exists from Jamaica. Therefore, the aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of D.

Porvac subunit vaccine induces neutralizing antibodies against all three main classical swine fever virus genotypes.

Classical swine fever (CSF) is endemic in Cuba and is one of the major health problems of the Cuban swine industry. The current efforts to control the disease in Cuba include vaccination with Porvac, a subunit marker vaccine. Although the efficacy of Porvac against CSF virus (CSFV) subgenotype 1.

The effect of novel Head and Trunk Control Rehabilitation (HATCoRe) device in children with cerebral palsy: Single-Subject multiple baseline protocol.

Objective: Head and trunk control is essential for enhancing engagement and participation by improving visual integration, respiration, oromotor skill, arm control, and self-care. Our study protocol aims to investigate the effect of novel Head And Trunk Control Rehabilitation (HATCoRe) device on promoting head and trunk control in children with Cerebral Palsy (CP).

Method: This single subject multiple baseline design trial will include six children with CP aged two to 10 years, exhibiting delayed head and trunk control, having Gross Motor Function Classification System level IV and V will be enrolled.

A landscape analysis and one health approach to an invasive species pathway: Pet and aquaria trade in the eastern Caribbean.

Background: The pet and aquaria trade is a pathway for the introduction of invasive alien species (IAS) into sensitive Caribbean ecosystems. This study aims to assess the impact of this trade on IAS management in the Caribbean.

Methods: A multipronged approach was used, involving stakeholder engagement, trade flow analysis, questionnaires, a regional IAS workshop, and a One Health Invasive Alien Species Prioritization (OHIASP) method, to examine the pet and aquaria trade in Barbados and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

Using data from routine health information systems as a public good in Trinidad and Tobago.

Objective: This study aimed to explore the use of data from routine health information systems (RHIS) as a public good in Trinidad and Tobago, the challenges faced in doing this and opportunities for strengthening the health information system.

Methods: For this descriptive qualitative study, purposive sampling was utilized to recruit 19 people who used or produced RHIS data. Online interviews were conducted via Zoom, and all interviews were recorded and transcribed.

Sustaining measles and rubella elimination through the Regional Monitoring and Re-Verification Commission in the Americas.

The elimination of endemic rubella and measles transmission in the Region of the Americas was verified by the Pan American Health Organization's (PAHO) Regional Verification Commission in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Upon achieving this success, this Commission was disbanded. Shortly afterwards, the Region faced challenges in the post-elimination era, notably responding to and stopping transmission of imported measles cases.

The silent barrier: exploring data availability in Small Island Developing States.

Objective: To quantify three aspects of data-related developmental progress across 57 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) recognized by the United Nations: statistical capacity measured using the Statistical Performance Indicators (SPI), data availability using the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators, and gender-stratified indicators.

Methods: SIDS as a single country group were compared with other World Bank regions, using SPI, availability of SDG metrics, and availability of gender-stratified metrics. Using population size as a proxy for "smallness," its association with data capacity and availability was modeled.

Lessons for sustaining the elimination of measles, rubella, and congenital rubella syndrome in the Caribbean.

This study searched grey literature and PubMed for strategies to sustain the elimination of measles, rubella, and congenital rubella syndrome and prevent their reintroduction in the Caribbean. Strategies were categorized at the macro, meso, and micro health levels. Macro strategies include: strong, clear, unified political and technical leadership and support; country ownership and subregional coordination of resources, policies, and programs; government investment in national immunization programs; and timely payment to the Pan American Health Organization Revolving Fund for affordable, good-quality vaccines.

SHARE: An ethical framework for equitable data sharing in Caribbean health research.

Data sharing increasingly underpins collaborative research to address complex regional and global public health problems. Advances in analytic tools, including machine learning, have expanded the potential benefits derived from large global repositories of open data. Participating in open data collaboratives offers opportunities for Caribbean researchers to advance the health of the region's population through shared data-driven science and policy.

Islands of data: cultivating an open data landscape for sustainable development in the Caribbean.

The widespread digitization of information, advances in data processing and the emergence of internet-connected devices have led to a proliferation of data, often loosely referred to as big data. With this digital transformation, offering open data - that is, data freely available for modification and reuse - has emerged as a key strategy for encouraging transparency and innovation. Data reuse holds particular importance in the small island developing states of the Caribbean, which have a limited resource pool from which to tackle the landscape of social priorities.

Caribbean data-sharing initiatives: activities of the Eastern Caribbean Health Outcomes Research Network.

The dissemination of biomedical research data beyond academia remains limited. In response, funding agencies now regularly require that the projects they fund make research data openly available for reuse. This emerging open data movement aims to democratize data access, often guided by the FAIR data technical standards, requiring that data should be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable.

Data journey map: a process for co-creating data requirements for health care artificial intelligence.

The Caribbean small island developing states have limited resources for comprehensive health care provision and are facing an increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases which is driven by an aging regional population. Artificial intelligence (AI) and other digital technologies offer promise for contributing to health care efficiencies, but themselves are dependent on the availability and accessibility of accurate health care data. A regional shortfall in data professionals continues to hamper legislative recognition and promotion of increased data production in Caribbean countries.

Mining social media data to inform public health policies: a sentiment analysis case study.

In the face of growing health challenges, nontraditional sources of data, such as open data, have the potential to transform how decisions are made and used to inform public health policies. Focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic, this article presents a case study employing sentiment analysis on unstructured social media data from Twitter (now X) to gauge public sentiment regarding pandemic-related restrictions. Our study aims to uncover and analyze Jamaican citizens' emotions and opinions surrounding COVID-19 restrictions following an outbreak at a call center in April 2020.

Data for population-based health analytics: the Cohorts Consortium of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Objective: We describe the daily operations of the Cohorts Consortium of Latin America and the Caribbean (CC-LAC), detailing the resources required and offering tips to Caribbean researchers so this guide can be used to start a data pooling project.

Methods: The CC-LAC began by developing a steering committee - that is, a team of regional experts who guided the project's set up and operations. The Consortium invites investigators who agree to share individual-level data about topics of interest to become members and they then have input into the project's goals and operations; they are also invited to coauthor papers.

Computer vision syndrome and associated factors among urban and rural bankers in Trinidad and Tobago.

Background: Modern workplace requirements in the banking sector require bankers to work on screens for more than 6 h a day, putting much stress and strain on their eyes, which leads to computer vision syndrome. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of computer vision syndrome and associated factors among urban and rural bankers in Trinidad and Tobago.

Methods And Materials: A cross-sectional design was applied to collect data from 399 bankers between April and June 2023.

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) Vaccine in America and Overseas: A Narrative Review.

This narrative review examines the role of the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine in global tuberculosis (TB) control efforts, with particular emphasis on the differences in vaccination policies between countries, such as the US, where routine BCG administration is not practiced. A significant complication of the BCG vaccine is false positive results in the tuberculin skin test (TST), often leading to misdiagnoses and unnecessary treatments. To address these issues, interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) have emerged as a more specific diagnostic tool that reduces false positives associated with prior BCG vaccination.

Page kidney in a solid-organ transplant recipient with acute renal failure and arterial hypertension.

Page kidney (Page phenomenon) is a rare and treatable cause of hypertension which can occur if a haematoma, leading to extrinsic compression, occurs after renal transplant biopsy. The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system is activated leading to hypertension. This case report is that of a male in his 70s who had a renal transplant biopsy of his transplanted kidney and subsequently developed Page phenomenon as a result of an expanding haematoma.

Impact of team experience on robot-assisted surgery for rectal cancer: A comparative study.

Introduction: The robotic surgical team in the operating room plays an important role in determining the outcome of a robotic approach. This study aimed to compare the outcomes of 2 hospitals with different levels of expertise in robot-assisted rectal cancer surgery.

Methods: This retrospective study analyzed 195 patients who underwent robot-assisted rectal resection at 2 referral centers for the treatment of rectal cancer between March 2018 and December 2021.

The Use of Methadone and Ketamine for Intraoperative Pain Management in Cardiac Surgery: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Objectives: To evaluate whether the addition of ketamine to intraoperative methadone is associated with superior postoperative pain management and decreased opioid consumption compared with methadone alone in cardiac surgery patients.

Design: A retrospective cohort study.

Setting: A large academic medical system comprising four sites.