HIV/AIDS surveillance in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Reporting of AIDS cases began right from the inception of national AIDS programmes in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. HIV surveillance was initiated with ad hoc serological surveys of selected groups of population. However, these surveys suffered from statistical bias. To minimize this bias, sentinel surveillance was introduced in two groups:patients with sexually transmitted diseases and antenatal clinic attendants. Apart from surveillance, many other population groups are being tested for HIV, mainly for case-finding. As HIV surveillance has an important role in AIDS prevention and control, adequate attention should be paid to its improvement, including the use of unlinked anonymous testing and the participation of the private sector

A Rapid Method to Evaluate Pre-Travel Programs for COVID-19: A Study in Hawaii

BackgroundPre-travel testing programs are being implemented around the world to curb COVID-19 and its variants from incoming travelers. A common approach is a single pre-travel test, 72 hours before departure, such as in Hawaii; however this raises concerns for those who are incubating or those infected after pre-travel testing or during transit. We need a rapid method to assess the effectiveness of pre-travel testing programs, and we use Hawaii as our case study.MethodsWe invited travelers departing from Kahului main airport at the end of their visit to Maui (major tourist destination among the Hawaiian islands) and performed COVID-19 PCR testing. Eligible participants needed a negative pre-travel test and a Hawaiian stay ≤ 14 days. We designed for anonymous testing at the end of travel so that travel plans would be unaffected, and we aimed for ≥ 70% study participation.ResultsAmong consecutive eligible travelers, 282 consented and 111 declined to participate, leading to a 72% (67-76%, 95% confidence interval) participation rate. Among 281 tested participants, two were positive with COVID-19, with an estimated positivity rate of 7 cases per 1,000 travelers. The top states of residence are California (58%) and Washington (21%). The mean length of stay was 7.7 ± 0.2 days. Regarding pre-travel testing, 87% had non-nasopharyngeal tests and 66% had self-administered tests.ConclusionsThis positivity rate leads to an estimated 17-30 infected travelers arriving daily to Maui in November-December 2020, and an estimated 52-70 infected travelers arriving daily to Hawaii during the same period. These counts surpass the Maui District Health Office’s projected ability to accommodate 10 infected visitors daily in Maui; therefore, an additional mitigation layer for travelers is recommended. This rapid field study can be replicated widely in airports to assess effectiveness of pre-travel programs and can be expanded to evaluate COVID-19 importation and its variants.

THE PROCEDURE FOR SELECTION AND APPOINTMENT OF PROFESSIONAL JUDGES OF UKRAINE IN THE CONTEXT OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL REQUIREMENTS FOR CANDIDATES

The article reveals the peculiarities of the selection and appointment of professional judges of Ukraine in the context of constitutional and legal requirements for candidates. It has been established that the specifics of the selection and appointment of professional judges in the context of constitutional and legal requirements for candidates are regulated by: the provisions and norms of the Constitution of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine «On the Judicial System and the Status of Judges»; the Regulations on the procedure for considering issues and preparing materials for the selection of candidates for the position of a judge for the first time, the Regulations on holding a competition for the vacant position of a judge, approved by the Decisions of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine; the Kiev recommendations on the independence of the judiciary in Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia. It is determined that the main stages of the procedure of selection and appointment of professional judges are 14 stages, which can be systematized and recommended in such as: announcement of a competition for the selection of candidates for relevant positions; submission of documents by persons who intend to become professional judges, and their admission to the procedure for selecting candidates applying for the position of judges; the process of organizing the procedure for conducting inspections, as well as collecting information about candidates applying for the position of judges; passing anonymous testing (exam) by candidates applying for the position of judges and sending them to undergo special training; drawing up a qualification exam by candidates applying for the position of judges; drawing up by candidates applying for the position of judges of a re-qualification exam (if the qualification exam was not drawn up successfully the first time, then the candidate applying for the position of a judge can draw it up again, but not earlier than one year later); determination of the rating of candidates applying for positions of judges; the formation and assignment of candidates applying for the positions of judges to the reserve for their replacement of vacant positions of the judge in the future; passing a competition to fill a vacant position of a judge. It is noted that the prospects for further research in this direction are the study of the peculiarities of the procedure for the selection and appointment of candidates for the posts of judges of the Supreme Court.

Web Application “Congenital Malformations”: Program Effectiveness Evaluation Based on Feedback

Currently, Internet resources are widely used in medical education, becoming one of the key tools of e-learning. We have developed a web application for congenital malformations and anomalies for medical students as an additional tool for self-learning. The web application contains two components: multimedia descriptions of congenital malformations, including images, animations, videos and interactive graphical tests; and the knowledge control module. It is important to evaluate effectiveness of web application and to improve the quality of the resources. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of a web application by analyzing user knowledge dynamics and use the information to improve content. The anonymous testing involved 260 users – doctors, medical students and teachers. Using the longitudinal method of the study, we analyzed the dynamics of the group-averaged rate of correct responses after repeated testing attempts. The results showed differences in the initial level of knowledge of users, and the results of medical students’ tests in dynamics were improved more than the results of doctors. The initial value of the percentage of correct responses to the control questions and the growth dynamics of this indicator after repeated attempts are important indicators for assessing the usefulness of a particular question. For developers, this information, based on objective indicators, has proved useful for improving the educational resource.

Distribution of psychological types in urban adolescents (on the example of Kharkiv District)

The materials of anonymous testing of 530 students in grades 9‒11 of six Kharkiv secondary schools, including general education, sports, gymnasiums, and a school with in-depth study of a foreign language, have been analyzed. In total, 252 boys and 278 girls aged 14‒17 years were examined. Eysenck personality questionnaire (EPQ) was used to determine the temperament type taking into account introversion and/or extraversion of the personality, as well as emotional stability. A proportion of various temperament types (sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic) and the indices of introversion, extraversion and ambiversion were calculated. The material was analyzed separately for each school, as well as for the Kharkiv population as a whole. The results are presented as percentages with 95 % confidence intervals. The girls showed a greater interest in the study, 43 % of them agreed to participate in the questionnaire, while only 38 % of the boys agreed to take the test. Analysis of the personal characteristics distribution within the different schools revealed a wide variation range. The proportion of psychological types of boys in various schools changed as follows: sanguine persons from 14.7 to 53.8 %, phlegmatic persons from 10.2 to 25.3 %, choleric persons from 7.7 to 38.3 %, melancholic persons from 9.5 to 23.5 %, introverts from 14.7 to 36.0 %, extroverts from 8.8 to 55.1 %, and ambiverts from 28.6 to 76.5 %. The psychotype proportion among girls was also variable. The small sample size did not allow us to draw a conclusion about the significance of differences between schools in any psychological characteristics, thus, we could not associate them with the school specialization. To increase statistical power, the data were pooled and the results were presented as population indices. The distribution of personal characteristics in boys and girls was as follows: sanguine persons 31.0 and 19.8 %, phlegmatic persons 21.0 and 19.4 %, choleric persons 27.0 and 44.2 %, melancholic persons 21.0 and 16.6 %, introverts 23.8 and 19.8 %, extroverts 32.1 and 36.0 %, ambiverts 44.1 and 44.2 %. Statistically significant gender differences were found for choleric and sanguine temperaments.

Seroprevalence of maternal HIV, hepatitis B, and syphilis in a major maternity hospital in North Kordofan, Sudan

Routine infectious diseases screening of Sudanese pregnant women has been patchy due to scarcity of healthcare resources and social stigma. We sought to determine the seroprevalence of HIV, hepatitis B, and syphilis among pregnant women attending antenatal care (ANC) at El Obeid Maternity Hospital in western Sudan. We also explored the association between these infections and a set of socio-demographic and maternal variables. Unlinked anonymous testing for HIV-1/2 antibodies, hepatitis B surface antigen, and Treponema pallidum antibodies was performed on residual blood samples collected during routine ANC (August 2016–March 2017). Seroprevalence of HIV was 1.13% (5/444; 95% CI 0.37–2.61%), hepatitis B 2.93% (13/444; 95% CI 1.57–4.95%), and syphilis 7.43% (33/444; 95% CI 5.17–10.28%). On bivariate analysis, there were no statistically significant associations between hepatitis B, syphilis, or a composite outcome including any of the three infections and age, stage of pregnancy, gravidity, parity, previous mode of delivery, history of blood transfusion, or husband polygamy. Urgent action is needed to scale up routine maternal screening for HIV, hepatitis B, and syphilis on an opt-out basis. Further research into the socio-demographic and behavioural determinants of these infections as well as their clinical outcomes is needed.