Interferon-γ Assays - Description and Assessment of a New Tool in the Diagnosis of Tuberculosis.
Haür B et al. Interferon-γ-Tests in der ...Pneumologie 2006; 60: 29-44
This paper reviews the effects of vertical responses to COVID-19 on health systems, services, and people’s access to and use of them in LMICs, where historic and ongoing under-investments heighten vulnerability to a multiplicity of health threats. We use the term ‘vertical response’ to describ
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e decisions, measures and actions taken solely with the purpose of preventing and containing COVID-19, often without adequate consideration of how this affects the wider health system and pre-existing resource constraints.
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Handbook of Foodborne Pathogenic Microorganisms and Natural Toxins
Update 2021; Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals
Strict storage recommendations for insulin are difficult to follow in hot tropical regions and even more challenging in conflict and humanitarian emergency settings, adding an extra burden to the management of people with diabetes. According to pharmacopeia unopened insulin vials must be stored in a
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refrigerator (2–8°C), while storage at ambient temperature (25–30°C) is usually permitted for the 4-week usage period during treatment. In the present work we address a critical question towards improving diabetes care in resource poor settings, namely whether insulin is stable and retains biological activity in tropical temperatures during a 4-week treatment period. To answer this question, temperature fluctuations were measured in Dagahaley refugee camp (Northern Kenya) using log tag recorders. Oscillating temperatures between 25 and 37°C were observed. Insulin heat stability was assessed under these specific temperatures which were precisely reproduced in the laboratory. Different commercialized formulations of insulin were quantified weekly by high performance liquid chromatography and the results showed perfect conformity to pharmacopeia guidelines, thus confirming stability over the assessment period (four weeks). Monitoring the 3D-structure of the tested insulin by circular dichroism confirmed that insulin monomer conformation did not undergo significant modifications. The measure of insulin efficiency on insulin receptor (IR) and Akt phosphorylation in hepatic cells indicated that insulin bioactivity of the samples stored at oscillating temperature during the usage period is identical to that of the samples maintained at 2–8°C. Taken together, these results indicate that insulin can be stored at such oscillating ambient temperatures for the usual four–week period of use. This enables the barrier of cold storage during use to be removed, thereby opening up the perspective for easier management of diabetes in humanitarian contexts and resource poor settings.
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Policy
25 February 2015 Vol 7 Issue 276 276fs8
A summary of what we know
Recommendations for Tuberculosis Screening Before Initiation of TNF-α-Inhibitor Treatment in Rheumatic Diseases
Diel R et al. Empfehlungen für das Tuberkulosescreening vor Gabe von TNF-α-Inhibitoren… Pneumologie 2009; 63: 329–334
This paper introduces a new dataset of official financing—including foreign aid and other forms of concessional and non-concessional state financing—from China to 138 countries between 2000 and 2014. We use these data to investigate whether and to what extent Chinese aid affects economic growth
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in recipient countries. To account for the endogeneity of aid, we employ an instrumental-variables strategy that relies on exogenous variation in the supply of Chinese aid over time resulting from changes in Chinese steel production. Variation across recipient countries results from a country’s probability of receiving aid. Controlling for year- and recipient-fixed effects that capture the levels of these variables, their interaction provides a powerful and excludable instrument. Our results show that Chinese official development assistance (ODA) boosts economic growth in recipient countries. For the average recipient country, we estimate that one additional Chinese ODA project produces a 0.7 percentage point increase in economic growth two years after the project is committed. We also benchmark the effectiveness of Chinese aid vis-á-vis the World Bank, the United States, and all members of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC).
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PLoS Pathogens | www.plospathogens.org 1
February 2012 | Volume 8 | Issue 2 | e100246
Frontiers in Pediatrics | www.frontiersin.org
1 April 2019 | Volume 7 | Article 159
In this review, the editors will investigate the impact of eight WASH interventions in preventing (reducing the risk of) and controlling outbreaks in LMIC, with particular focus on three diseases of current concern to the response community – cholera, Ebola, and Hepatitis E. Additionally, we will
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explore economic outcomes related to WASH interventions within an outbreak
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BMC Medicine201614:112 DOI: 10.1186/s12916-016-0660-0
Many features of the environment have been found to exert an important influence on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, progression, and severity. Changes in the environment due to migration to different geographic locations, modifications in lifestyle choices, and shifts in social policies and cultu
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ral practices alter CVD risk, even in the absence of genetic changes. Nevertheless, the cumulative impact of the environment on CVD risk has been difficult to assess
and the mechanisms by which some environment factors influence CVD remain obscure. Human environments are complex; and their natural, social and personal domains are highly variable due to diversity in human ecosystems, evolutionary histories, social structures, and individual choices. Accumulating evidence supports the notion that ecological features such as the diurnal cycles of
light and day, sunlight exposure, seasons, and geographic characteristics of the natural environment such altitude, latitude and greenspaces are important determinants of cardiovascular health and CVD risk. In highly developed societies, the influence of the natural environment is moderated by the physical characteristics of the social environments such as the built environment
and pollution, as well as by socioeconomic status and social networks. These attributes of the
social environment shape lifestyle choices that significantly modify CVD risk. An understanding
of how different domains of the environment, individually and collectively, affect CVD risk could
lead to a better appraisal of CVD, and aid in the development of new preventive and therapeutic
strategies to limit the increasingly high global burden of heart disease and stroke.
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Review
Triccas and Counoupas Pneumonia (2016) 8:18; DOI 10.1186/s41479-016-0020-z
Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Lancet Planet Health 2019; 3: 469–77