scholarly journals Health-related research publications on religious mass gatherings of Muslims: a bibliometric analysis (1980–2020)

Author(s):  
Waleed M. Sweileh

Abstract Objective Mass gatherings medicine is an emerging and important field at the national and international health security levels. The objective of the current study was to analyze research publications on religious mass gatherings of Muslims using bibliometric tools. Methods Keywords related to religious mass gatherings of Muslims were used in Scopus database. The duration of the study was from January 01, 1980 to December 31, 2020. Examples of keywords used include hajj, Umrah, mass gatherings/Mecca or Makkah, mass gatherings/Karbala, pilgrim/Makkah or Mecca, and others. Bibliometric indicators and mapping were presented. Results In total, 509 documents were retrieved. The average number of citations per article was 16.7 per document. Analysis of the retrieved documents indicated that (1) more than 90% of the retrieved documents were about the mass gatherings in Mecca/Makkah; (2) two-thirds of the retrieved documents were research articles; (3) a take-off phase in the number of publications was observed after 2008; (4) the retrieved documents were disseminated in a wide range of journals but specifically the ones in the fields of infectious diseases, public health, and travel medicine; (5) the retrieved documents were mainly published by scholars from Saudi Arabia with collaborative research ties with scholars in the US, France, the UK, and Australia; (6) Saudi Arabia contributed to more than half of the retrieved documents; and (7) four research themes were found: knowledge, attitude, and practices of pilgrims to Mecca/Makkah, vaccination, etiology of hospital admission among pilgrims, and epidemiology of various types of infectious diseases. Conclusions Research on mass gatherings, specifically the Hajj, is emerging. Researchers from the Saudi Arabia dominated the field. Research collaboration between scholars in Saudi Arabia and scholars in low- and middle-income countries is needed and must be encouraged since these countries have weaker health systems to screen, monitor, and control the spread of infectious diseases because of the Hajj season.

Author(s):  
Christina L Faust ◽  
Kirstyn Brunker ◽  
Diana Ajambo ◽  
Mary Ryan ◽  
Arinaitwe Moses ◽  
...  

Abstract Improvements in genetic and genomic technology have enabled field-deployable molecular laboratories and these have been deployed in a variety of epidemics that capture headlines. In this editorial, we highlight the importance of building physical and personnel capacity in low and middle income countries to deploy these technologies to improve diagnostics, understand transmission dynamics and provide feedback to endemic communities on actionable timelines. We describe our experiences with molecular field research on schistosomiasis, trypanosomiasis and rabies and urge the wider tropical medicine community to embrace these methods and help build capacity to benefit communities affected by endemic infectious diseases.


Author(s):  
Petr Ilyin

Especially dangerous infections (EDIs) belong to the conditionally labelled group of infectious diseases that pose an exceptional epidemic threat. They are highly contagious, rapidly spreading and capable of affecting wide sections of the population in the shortest possible time, they are characterized by the severity of clinical symptoms and high mortality rates. At the present stage, the term "especially dangerous infections" is used only in the territory of the countries of the former USSR, all over the world this concept is defined as "infectious diseases that pose an extreme threat to public health on an international scale." Over the entire history of human development, more people have died as a result of epidemics and pandemics than in all wars combined. The list of especially dangerous infections and measures to prevent their spread were fixed in the International Health Regulations (IHR), adopted at the 22nd session of the WHO's World Health Assembly on July 26, 1969. In 1970, at the 23rd session of the WHO's Assembly, typhus and relapsing fever were excluded from the list of quarantine infections. As amended in 1981, the list included only three diseases represented by plague, cholera and anthrax. However, now annual additions of new infections endemic to different parts of the earth to this list take place. To date, the World Health Organization (WHO) has already included more than 100 diseases in the list of especially dangerous infections.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Haryo Suganda ◽  
Raja Muhammad Amin

This study is motivated the identification of policies issued by the regional Governmentof Rokan Hulu in the form of Regulatory region number 1 by 2015 on the determination of thevillage and Indigenous Village. Political dynamics based on various interests against themanufacture of, and decision-making in the process of formation of the corresponding localregulations determination of Indigenous Villages in the Rokan Hulu is impacted to a verysignificantamount of changes from the initial draft of the number i.e. 21 (twenty one) the villagebecame Customary 89 (eighty-nine) the Indigenous Villages who have passed. Type of thisresearch is a qualitative descriptive data analysis techniques. The research aims to describe theState of the real situation in a systematic and accurate fact analysis unit or related research, aswell as observations of the field based on the data (information). Method of data collectionwas done with interviews, documentation, and observations through fieldwork (field research).The results of the research on the process of discussion of the draft local regulations andmutual agreement about Designation of Indigenous Villages in the Rokan Hulu is, showed thatthe political dynamics that occur due to the presence of various political interests, rejectionorally by Villagers who were judged to have met the requirements of Draft Regulations to beformulated and the area for the set to be Indigenous Villages, and also there is a desire fromsome villages in the yet to Draft local regulations in order to set the Indigenous village , there isa wide range of interests of these aspects influenced the agreement to assign the entire localVillage which is in the Rokan Hulu become Indigenous village, and the village of Transmigrationinto administrative Villages where the initiator of the changes in the number of IndigenousVillages in the Rokan Hulu it is the desire of the local Government of its own.


Author(s):  
Cécile Viboud ◽  
Hélène Broutin ◽  
Gerardo Chowell

Disentangling the spatial-temporal dynamics of infectious disease transmission is important to address issues of disease persistence, epidemic growth and optimal control. In this chapter, we review key concepts relating to the spatial-temporal dynamics of infectious diseases in meta-populations, whereby geographically separate subpopulations are connected by migration or mobility rates. We review the dynamics of colonization, persistence and extinction of emerging and recurrent pathogens in meta-populations; the role of demographic and environmental factors; and geographic heterogeneity in epidemic growth rate. We illustrate theoretical concepts by reviewing the spatial dynamics of childhood diseases and other acute infections in low- and middle-income countries, and provide a detailed description of the spatial-temporal dynamics of the 2014–16 Ebola epidemic in West Africa. We further discuss how increased availability of empirical data and recent methodological developments provide a deeper mechanistic understanding of transmission processes in space and time, and make recommendations for future work.


Author(s):  
Bridget Pratt

Health research funded by organizations from HICs and conducted in low- and middle-income countries has grown significantly since 1990. Power imbalances and inequities frequently (but not always) exist at each stage of the international research process. Unsurprisingly then, a variety of ethical concerns commonly arise in the context of international health research, such as inequities in funding, the semi-colonial nature of international research models, the brain drain of low- and middle-income country researchers, and inequities in partnerships between HIC and low- and middle-income country researchers. In this chapter, these (and other) ethical concerns are introduced and the following ethical concepts to address the concerns are then discussed: responsiveness, standard of care, benefit sharing, community engagement, and social value. Existing guidance and remaining debates about how to specify each of the concepts are summarized. The chapter concludes by highlighting the existence of epistemic injustices within the field of international research ethics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-343
Author(s):  
Yaaser Q. Almulaiky ◽  
Ammar AL-Farga

Commiphora gileadensis is commonly used in Saudi Arabia for oral hygiene. A lack of data about its biological activity encouraged us to evaluate the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of its leaf and stem extracts. Ethanol, methanol, acetone and deionized water were tested as extraction solvents. 80% methanol gave the highest extracted concentrations of phenolic and flavonoid substances. The leaf and stem extracts were respectively evaluated for their radical scavenging activity with DPPH (EC50 = 3.39, and 1.06), ABTS (EC50 = 0.690, and 0.55), and peroxide scavenging activity (EC50 = 2.43, and 1.28). GC-MS identified a wide range of compounds that may be responsible for these activities of the results observed. The highest levels of chlorophyll, carotenoids, and lycopene were found in the leaf extract while level of proanthocyanidins was found in the stem peels extract. The peroxidase and catalase activities of stem peel extract were higher than those of the leaf extract. The findings showed that the leaf and stem peel extracts of C. gileadensis exhibited significant antibacterial activity against the test organisms. The minimum inhibitory concentrations for the plant extracts were compared with the standard reference drug Augmentin but the time–kill curves for the C. gileadensis extracts showed that they were less effective than Augmentin. Moreover, the stem peel extract exhibited stronger antibacterial activity than the leaf extract. In conclusion, C. gileadensis can be an important source of natural antioxidants, used as a healthy chewing stick for teeth brushing and oral hygiene purposes.


2021 ◽  
pp. 074873042098732
Author(s):  
N. Kronfeld-Schor ◽  
T. J. Stevenson ◽  
S. Nickbakhsh ◽  
E. S. Schernhammer ◽  
X. C. Dopico ◽  
...  

Not 1 year has passed since the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Since its emergence, great uncertainty has surrounded the potential for COVID-19 to establish as a seasonally recurrent disease. Many infectious diseases, including endemic human coronaviruses, vary across the year. They show a wide range of seasonal waveforms, timing (phase), and amplitudes, which differ depending on the geographical region. Drivers of such patterns are predominantly studied from an epidemiological perspective with a focus on weather and behavior, but complementary insights emerge from physiological studies of seasonality in animals, including humans. Thus, we take a multidisciplinary approach to integrate knowledge from usually distinct fields. First, we review epidemiological evidence of environmental and behavioral drivers of infectious disease seasonality. Subsequently, we take a chronobiological perspective and discuss within-host changes that may affect susceptibility, morbidity, and mortality from infectious diseases. Based on photoperiodic, circannual, and comparative human data, we not only identify promising future avenues but also highlight the need for further studies in animal models. Our preliminary assessment is that host immune seasonality warrants evaluation alongside weather and human behavior as factors that may contribute to COVID-19 seasonality, and that the relative importance of these drivers requires further investigation. A major challenge to predicting seasonality of infectious diseases are rapid, human-induced changes in the hitherto predictable seasonality of our planet, whose influence we review in a final outlook section. We conclude that a proactive multidisciplinary approach is warranted to predict, mitigate, and prevent seasonal infectious diseases in our complex, changing human-earth system.


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