scholarly journals Human microbiota research in Africa: a systematic review reveals gaps and priorities for future research

Microbiome ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Imane Allali ◽  
Regina E. Abotsi ◽  
Lemese Ah. Tow ◽  
Lehana Thabane ◽  
Heather J. Zar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Human Microbiome ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
African Populations ◽  
The World ◽  
Microbiome Research

Abstract Background The role of the human microbiome in health and disease is an emerging and important area of research; however, there is a concern that African populations are under-represented in human microbiome studies. We, therefore, conducted a systematic survey of African human microbiome studies to provide an overview and identify research gaps. Our secondary objectives were: (i) to determine the number of peer-reviewed publications; (ii) to identify the extent to which the researches focused on diseases identified by the World Health Organization [WHO] State of Health in the African Region Report as being the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in 2018; (iii) to describe the extent and pattern of collaborations between researchers in Africa and the rest of the world; and (iv) to identify leadership and funders of the studies. Methodology We systematically searched Medline via PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, Academic Search Premier, Africa-Wide Information through EBSCOhost, and Web of Science from inception through to 1st April 2020. We included studies that characterized samples from African populations using next-generation sequencing approaches. Two reviewers independently conducted the literature search, title and abstract, and full-text screening, as well as data extraction. Results We included 168 studies out of 5515 records retrieved. Most studies were published in PLoS One (13%; 22/168), and samples were collected from 33 of the 54 African countries. The country where most studies were conducted was South Africa (27/168), followed by Kenya (23/168) and Uganda (18/168). 26.8% (45/168) focused on diseases of significant public health concern in Africa. Collaboration between scientists from the United States of America and Africa was most common (96/168). The first and/or last authors of 79.8% of studies were not affiliated with institutions in Africa. Major funders were the United States of America National Institutes of Health (45.2%; 76/168), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (17.8%; 30/168), and the European Union (11.9%; 20/168). Conclusions There are significant gaps in microbiome research in Africa, especially those focusing on diseases of public health importance. There is a need for local leadership, capacity building, intra-continental collaboration, and national government investment in microbiome research within Africa.

scholarly journals A Normalized Mortality Rate Showed the Diverse Severity of COVID-19 and Its Association With Other Chronic Diseases

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santosh Kumar ◽  
P.R. Renjith ◽  
C. Priscilla ◽  
Selva Kumar Ganesan ◽  
N.G. Rajesh
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cardiovascular Diseases ◽  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Chronic Diseases ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Respiratory Diseases ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
The World

Covid-19 has given a halt to all the activities in the world. Europe was most affected, followed by the United States of America. It has taken more than 350000 lives until now. In this study, we have assessed the severity of Covid-19 by analyzing the mortality rate of Covid-19 and other chronic diseases. The Covid-19 data and “death rate” data caused by other diseases were downloaded from the world health organization (WHO) website. A normalized method was used to see the mortality rate of Covid-19 in comparison to other diseases. The deaths caused by Covid-19 in April 2020 have overtaken the average number of deaths caused by Cancer, Cardiovascular diseases, and other diseases in Belgium, the United Kingdom (UK), Spain, France, and Ireland. Covid-19 was found to be strongly correlated with non-communicable respiratory diseases and Cancer with correlation coefficients 0.73 and 0.67 respectively. The severity of Covid-19 in the United States of America (USA) was moderate. The severity of Covid-19 in Asian countries was found to be low. Europe showed the highest diversity in the mortality rate of Covid-19. On average, except for a few European countries, Cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and non-communicable respiratory diseases were still more lethal and caused more deaths than Covid-19.

scholarly journals Coronavirus and Pharmacists

2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-6
Author(s):  
Ken Thai
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Wuhan City ◽  
The World ◽  
High Season ◽  
Health Organization

Pharmacists and our fellow healthcare colleagues typically expect a break from our “high season” of cough, cold, and flu patients that have filled our pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals by this time of the year. Everyone is prepping for the end of the winter and the dawning of spring. This year was unlike many as we have heard loud cries across the globe regarding the outbreak of the novel “new” coronavirus. The virus was first detected from the Wuhan City of China. It has since infected tens of thousands of people in China and across the world. In fact, the World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern.” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar declared a public health emergency for the United States to aid the nation's healthcare community in responding. A proclamation was signed on January 31, 2020, by the United States to suspend entry of anyone who poses a risk of transmitting the coronavirus.

scholarly journals Collegiate Athletes' Concussion Awareness, Understanding, and -Reporting Behaviors in Different Countries With Varying Concussion Publicity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Beidler ◽  
Jessica Wallace ◽  
Alia A. Alghwiri ◽  
Siobhan O'Connor
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Sports Medicine ◽  
Collegiate Athletes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Reporting Behaviors ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

Context Concussions are a global public health concern, and education on the importance of self-reporting may not reach all athletes to the same degree around the world. Objective To determine if differences were present in the concussion awareness, understanding, and -reporting behaviors of collegiate athletes' in 3 countries with varied degrees of concussion publicity. Design Cross-sectional survey. Setting Collegiate sports medicine clinics. Patients or Other Participants Collegiate athletes in the United States (n = 964; high publicity), Ireland (n = 302; moderate publicity), and Jordan (n = 129; low publicity). The degree of concussion publicity was categorized based on the extent of national public health awareness initiatives, care guidelines, research publications, and mass media coverage. Main Outcome Measure(s) Participants completed a 10- to 15-minute survey on concussion awareness, understanding, and -reporting behaviors. The main outcome measures were concussion education (awareness; 21 options; select all sources of concussion information), concussion knowledge (understanding; maximum score of 49), and diagnosed/nondisclosed concussion history (reporting behaviors; self-report yes/no items). Results A higher proportion of Jordanian athletes reported never having received concussion information previously (73.6%) than Irish (24.2%) or US athletes (9.4%). Knowledge differed among countries (P < .0001, η2 = .28), with US athletes displaying higher total knowledge scores (40.9 ± 4.5) than Jordanian (35.1 ± 5.6) and Irish (32.1 ± 3.5) athletes. A greater percentage of Irish and US athletes reported a history of a diagnosed concussion (31.8% and 29.6%, respectively) and history of concussion nondisclosure (25.2% and 15.5%, respectively) than Jordanian athletes (2.3% and 0.0% for history of a diagnosed concussion and history of concussion nondisclosure, respectively). Conclusions In the United States, where concussion publicity is high, formal legislation exists, and sports medicine resources, concussion awareness and understanding were increased. More culturally appropriate concussion initiatives are needed globally to ensure that athletes around the world can identify concussive injuries and understand the dangers of continued sport participation while concussed.

scholarly journals Is Hydroxychloroquine Safe During Pregnancy? Observations from Penn Medicine

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Davidson ◽  
Silvia P. Canelón ◽  
Mary Regina Boland
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Health Organization

A novel strain of coronavirus appeared in December 2019. Over the next few months, this novel coronavirus spread throughout the world, being declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. As of this writing (March 28, 2020) over one hundred thousand individuals in the United States of America were confirmed cases. One way of treating the associated disease, COVID-19, is to reuse existing FDA-approved medications. One medication that has shown promise is hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). However, the utility and safety of HCQ among pregnant COVID-19 patients remains a concern.

scholarly journals Exemption of behind-the-wheel driving test for novice young drivers: A serious public health concern

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 59-61
Author(s):  
Imran Bari ◽  
Nino Paichadze ◽  
Adnan Hyder
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Road Safety ◽  
Road Traffic ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

Road traffic injuries (RTIs) continue to emerge as a serious public health issue across the world; according to the World Health Organization, every year, almost 1.35 million individuals lose their lives, and approximately 25 million injuries are caused by road traffic crashes (World Health Organization, 2018). These RTIs are the leading cause of death for children and young adults between 5-29 years of age (World Health Organization, 2018). Under the current situation of COVID-19 pandemic, there have been reports suggesting a profound decline in RTIs because of reduced traffic on the world’s roads (Job, 2020); however, amid this pandemic, some states in the United Sates have proposed controversial road traffic policies that can jeopardize road safety. The Governor of the State of Georgia, the United States, recently, through an executive order, waived the behind-the-wheel road test requirement for novice drivers who had held a driving permit for a year (The State of Georgia Government, 2020). Through this wavier, almost 20,000 teenagers were granted full driving privileges last month (Taylor, 2020). While the decision was made to address the backlog of driving tests created by the COVID-19 pandemic, and also to practice social distancing (Taylor, 2020), many public health experts are now concerned that this decision will have catastrophic consequences on road safety.

scholarly journals Perspectives on Fewer Sars-2 Corona virus (COVID-19) Deaths in Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A Anong ◽  
Jude N. Okoyeh
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Public Health Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Developing Nations ◽  
Death Rates ◽  
The World ◽  
Better Than

Globally, more than two million people, about 53,000 in Africa have died from COVID-19 infection. By any metric, Africa has so far fared better than most parts of the world including, some of the most developed and affluent nations like the United States of America in the fight to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysis of published COVID-19 data shows that Africa, with a population four times greater than that of the United States recorded forty times less number of positive cases and at least thirty fold decrease in the number of COVID-19 deaths. The data also demonstrates that the population case positivity and fatality rates in Europe are respectively ~24 and ~23 folds greater than those of Africa. The vast disparity in the metrics between advanced nations in Europe and the United States, with substantial healthcare budgets and the developing nations of Africa is worth examining.  In this article, we offer some perspectives to explain Africa’s low case positivity and death rates from COVID-19 infections. While many factors contribute to the world’s collective vulnerability to the pandemic, structural, demographic and sound public health policy together are essential in fighting off the disease.

Electoral Systems in Context

2017 ◽  
pp. 720-740
Author(s):  
Steven L. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Primary Elections ◽  
Unique Element ◽  
Unique System ◽  
The World ◽  
Elected Office

The United States of America has one of the longest, continually functional electoral systems in the world. On one level, the system is seemingly simple, as it is based predominantly on plurality winners in the context of single-seat districts. However, its extensive usage of primary elections adds a nearly unique element to the process of filling elected office. This mechanism is used more extensively in the United States than in any other case. Additionally, the United States has a complex, and unique, system for electing its national executive. All of these factors help create and reinforce one of the most rigid two-party systems in the world.

Review of form 483s and warning letters to pharmaceutical manufacturers issued by USFDA

2021 ◽  
pp. 174113432110235
Author(s):  
Chandan Saini ◽  
Ashish Miglani ◽  
Pankaj Musyuni ◽  
Geeta Aggarwal
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Regulatory Authority ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Law ◽  
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers ◽  
The World ◽  
Considerable Impact ◽  
A Company ◽  
Responsible Person

Regular inspections are carried out to ensure system conformity by the Food and Drugs Regulatory Authority (FDA) of the United States one of the most stringent regulatory authorities in the world. The inspectors send Form 483 to the management after the inspection, detailing the inappropriate conditions. Because the FDA guidelines are difficult to comply with, a company can contravene the regulations. If any significant infringements can affect the protection, quality, effectiveness, or public health of the drug is identified, the FDA issues advice to the company. Warning Letters (WL) shall be an official notification of non-compliance with federal law within a period to be issued by manufacturer, clinician, distributor, or responsible person in the company. The delivery of a letter has a considerable impact on the company's reputation and position in the market. Inadequate WL reactions could lead to a refusal, import denial, memorandum or even conviction and order. A brief study was conducted in this document of Form 483 and WL for four years (2017–2020) on an understanding the regulatory provisions.

scholarly journals Challenges in evaluating the use of viral sequence data to identify HIV transmission networks for public health

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (s1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rami Kantor ◽  
John P. Fulton ◽  
Jon Steingrimsson ◽  
Vladimir Novitsky ◽  
Mark Howison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Hiv Transmission ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Viral Sequence ◽  
Transmission Networks ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Hiv Epidemic ◽  
The World

AbstractGreat efforts are devoted to end the HIV epidemic as it continues to have profound public health consequences in the United States and throughout the world, and new interventions and strategies are continuously needed. The use of HIV sequence data to infer transmission networks holds much promise to direct public heath interventions where they are most needed. As these new methods are being implemented, evaluating their benefits is essential. In this paper, we recognize challenges associated with such evaluation, and make the case that overcoming these challenges is key to the use of HIV sequence data in routine public health actions to disrupt HIV transmission networks.

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