Psychometric evaluation and derivation of the Kannada version of the modified (29-item model) Indian Vision Function Assessment Questionnaire.

Background/aims: India's linguistic and cultural diversity necessitates a region-specific validated Visual Functioning Questionnaire. The objective of this study was to translate the Indian Vision Function Questionnaire-33 (IND-VFQ-33) into the Kannada language and test its psychometric properties, underlying factor structure, and model fit.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 330 participants, and basic psychometric properties (reliability, convergent, discriminant, construct validity, responsiveness, etc.

Using timeliness metrics for household contact tracing and TB preventive therapy in the private sector, India.

Although screening of household contacts (HHCs) of TB patients and provision of TB preventive therapy (TPT) is a key intervention to end the TB epidemic, their implementation globally is dismal. We assessed whether introducing a '7-1-7' timeliness metric was workable for implementing HHC screening among index patients with pulmonary TB diagnosed by private providers in Chennai, India, between November 2022 and March 2023.This was an explanatory mixed-methods study (quantitative-cohort and qualitative-descriptive).

Low yield but high levels of multidrug resistance in urinary tract infections in a tertiary hospital, Nepal.

Setting: There are concerns about the occurrence of multidrug resistance (MDR) in patients with urine tract infections (UTI) in Nepal.

Objective: To determine culture positivity, trends in MDR among infections and seasonal changes in culture-positive UTI specimens isolated from 2014 to 2018 at the B P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Eastern Nepal.

Design: This was a cross-sectional study using secondary laboratory data.

High success and low recurrence with shorter treatment regimen for multidrug-resistant TB in Nepal.

Setting: Nine drug-resistant TB centres, some of them supported by Damien Foundation in Nepal where >80% of multidrug-resistant/rifampicin-resistant TB (MDR/RR-TB) patients are treated.

Objective: To assess the uptake, effectiveness and safety of the 9-12-month shorter treatment regimen (STR) in MDR/RR-TB patients registered from January 2018 to December 2019.

Design: This was a cohort study involving secondary programme data.

TB in Indian adolescents: results from a nationally representative survey, 2015-2016.

Adolescents (age: 15-19 years) from the National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-2016), India. To examine the sociodemographic and nutritional characteristics of adolescents with reported TB and those with a reported household TB exposure. This was a cross-sectional study using secondary data.

Ethics-related guidelines for authors and article retractions: How do Indian biomedical journals measure up?

Background: There has been an increase in research output from India, which in turn has led to an increase in the number of Indian journals facilitating biomedical research. The instructions to authors in the websites of these journals should clearly display ethics-related guidelines for the ethical publication process. The present study did an objective assessment of instructions to authors on the websites of Indian biomedical journals in PubMed and IndMED and retractions in these journals from January 2012 to October 2017.

Targeted active screening for tuberculosis in Zimbabwe: are field digital chest X-ray ratings reliable?

Setting: Fifteen purposively selected districts in Zimbabwe in which targeted active screening for tuberculosis (Tas4TB) was conducted among TB high-risk groups (HRGs). There were 230 patients started on TB treatment on the basis of chest X-ray (CXR) results without corresponding bacteriological confirmation.

Objectives: To determine 1) the percentage of agreements in digital CXR ratings by medical officers against final ratings by radiologist(s), 2) inter-rater agreement in CXR ratings between medical officers and radiologists, and 3) number (and proportion) of patients belonging to HRGs who were over-treated during Tas4TB.

Tuberculosis-diabetes screening: how well are we doing? A mixed-methods study from North India.

Setting: Public health care facilities in Sonipat District, Haryana State, India.

Objectives: To assess 1) the proportion of tuberculosis (TB) patients screened for diabetes mellitus (DM) and vice versa, 2) factors associated with screening, and 3) the enablers, barriers and solutions related to screening.

Design: A mixed-methods study with quantitative (cohort study involving record reviews of patients registered between November 2016 and April 2017) and qualitative (interviews of patients, health care providers [HCPs] and key district-level staff) components.