The impact of research on health education/health literacy on policymaking in Latin America and the Caribbean Region.

Background: In this study, we addressed the gap between health research and policymaking in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), focusing on health education/health literacy. Despite growing research, translating findings into effective policies needs to be improved. We explored the factors that make research on health education and health literacy to be referenced and mentioned in policy documents in LAC (and in Peru). We proposed a model based on the hypothesis that the relationship between research and policymaking depends on the research strength of scientific evidence, timing, and social media activity. Methods: A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Quantitative data sources included multidisciplinary databases, altmetric data, and citations of policy documents. For data analysis, we obtained descriptive statistics to identify patterns and then verified the association between variables using χ2. The negative binomial regression was used to test the empirical model introduced above. Quantitative analysis was complemented by analysis of responses to a set of open questions from a sample of Peruvian health policymakers. Results: We found that timing, strength of evidence, and social media activity were significant predictors of research cited in policy documents. Policy documents tended to rely more on qualitative evidence. A positive correlation between timing and cites in policy documents highlighted the importance of timely dissemination, whereas social media activity, while having an impact, had a relatively minor effect. Peruvian policymakers' responses emphasized the role of political context, the relevance of results, and policymakers' commitment to incorporating research into policies. Conclusion: Strength of evidence, social media engagement, and publication timing are key predictors of citations for health education/literacy research in LAC policy documents. However, qualitative findings highlight challenges, including some distrust in research findings, together with limited access to relevant research. The findings offer opportunities to enhance evidence-informed health education/health literacy policy decisions. Implications: To increase the influence on health policymakers, researchers should prioritize the timely dissemination of solid evidence, considering both traditional and digital platforms. Policymakers should focus on the quality and relevance of evidence when formulating policies.

Health Literacy Concepts, Themes, and Research Trends Globally and in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Bibliometric Review.

(1) Background: Health literacy (HL) debates have increased significantly in the last two decades. HL concepts/themes and models have achieved substantial development in the US and Europe. Although there have been some efforts to develop HL in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), these seem to be few and scattered. This paper reviews and discusses developments of HL concepts and themes globally and in LAC over the last two decades. (2) Purpose: This study aimed to identify the prevalent health literacy concepts/themes deployed globally and in LAC as reported in academic journals from 2005 to 2022. We looked into which fields of knowledge have been informing HL research over the last decades. (3) Methods: We conducted a structured search on the Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, PubMed, and SciELO databases to extract the textual data for bibliometric analysis. We analyzed the textual data with VOSviewer and Biblioshiny to better understand health literacy themes and strands currently being researched in the LAC region. We conducted the searches in two periods: the first in May 2023 and the second in October 2023. (4) Results: The bibliometric study highlighted five WoS categories informing most HL global studies: (i) public environmental occupational health; (ii) environmental sciences; (iii) health policy services; (iv) health care science services; and (v) communication. The two predominant categories in LAC are public environmental occupation health and health policy services. Journals hosting HL publications come from these WoS categories. Themes in HL publications can be organized into four thematic clusters: (i) analytical (research designs, analytic techniques, and criteria for examining HL data); (ii) psychometric (measurement properties of data collection tools); (iii) pragmatic (practical issues related to implementing HL programs); and (iv) well-being (effectiveness of HL programs on mental health and illness treatment). (5) Conclusions: There is expanding interest in health literacy among scholars. The number of publications has increased substantially, particularly over the last five years. These are dominated by the Global North. The metrics show that LAC and Africa are trailing in publications. There is an emerging focus on adult literacy, functional/low health literacy, and their effect on improving capabilities, comprehension, and communication regarding health-related topics.

Factors associated with child abuse among children and adolescents in a Peruvian public hospital.

The study's objective was to investigate the factors associated with child and adolescent abuse in the MAMIS program at Hipólito Unanue Hospital in the Tacna-Peru region during 2019-2021. The study used a quantitative, retrospective, cross-sectional, and correlational approach to analyze 174 cases of child abuse. The study found that the majority of child abuse cases involved children between the ages of 12-17 (57.4%), with a secondary level of education (51.15%), females (56.9%), and not consuming alcohol or drugs (88.5%). Prevalent household characteristics included single-parent families (48.28%), parents aged 30-59 (58.5%), divorced (37.3%), with secondary level of education (68.9%), independent occupation (64.9%), no history of parental violence (91.3%), no addiction or substance abuse issues (95.4%), and no psychiatric disorders (95.4%). The most common types of abuse were psychological (93.68%), followed by neglect or abandonment (38.51%), physical (37.93%), and sexual (27.0%). The study determined a significant relationship (95% confidence level) between socio-demographic characteristics, such as age, sex, and substance use, and specific types of child abuse.

Planetary Health and Health Education in Brazil: Towards Better Trained Future Health Professionals.

Brazil is Latin America's largest country and has a strong economy, but it is also characterised by many inequalities. These are very conspicuous in the health sector, particularly in health education, which is expected to modernise according to the planetary health (PH) perspective. This paper describes the health education scenario in Brazil and undertakes an analysis of the postgraduate health programmes and policies in place, identifying the extent to which these support the cause of PH. To achieve this goal, this paper deploys a bibliometric analysis to gain a better understanding of the research streams related to higher education and PH. In addition, it presents and discusses selected case studies in the field and cross-checks documents from the Brazilian Ministry of Education against five domains of PH in education. The results indicate that despite some progress to date and the fact that some programmes are in place, there is a perceived need for policies and efforts from education organisations towards connecting PH principles in the education of current and future health professionals.

A How-to Guide to Building a Robust SARS-CoV-2 Testing Program at a University-Based Health System.

When South Florida became a hot spot for COVID-19 disease in March 2020, we faced an urgent need to develop test capability to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection. We assembled a transdisciplinary team of knowledgeable and dedicated physicians, scientists, technologists, and administrators who rapidly built a multiplatform, polymerase chain reaction- and serology-based detection program, established drive-through facilities, and drafted and implemented guidelines that enabled efficient testing of our patients and employees. This process was extremely complex, due to the limited availability of needed reagents, but outreach to our research scientists and multiple diagnostic laboratory companies, and government officials enabled us to implement both Food and Drug Administration authorized and laboratory-developed testing-based testing protocols. We analyzed our workforce needs and created teams of appropriately skilled and certified workers to safely process patient samples and conduct SARS-CoV-2 testing and contact tracing. We initiated smart test ordering, interfaced all testing platforms with our electronic medical record, and went from zero testing capacity to testing hundreds of health care workers and patients daily, within 3 weeks. We believe our experience can inform the efforts of others when faced with a crisis situation.

Prácticas y conocimientos sobre prevención primaria de tuberculosis en estudiantes universitarios de ciencias de la salud en la región Tacna, Perú / Practices and knowledge on primary prevention of tuberculosis in university students of health sciences in Tacna, Peru

Introducción. La tuberculosis (TB) es un riesgo laboral para los trabajadores y estudiantes de salud. Objetivo. Describir las prácticas y conocimientos sobre prevención primaria de TB en estudiantes de ciencias de la salud, e identificar los factores asociados a las prácticas de prevención. Métodos. Estudio transversal en estudiantes del penúltimo año de cuatro universidades de Tacna. En 2018, aplicamos un cuestionario de 16 preguntas sobre conocimientos y 13 sobre prácticas de prevención en TB. Realizamos un análisis descriptivo para prácticas y conocimientos, además los factores asociados al puntaje de prácticas fueron determinados con un análisis de regresión lineal. Resultados. Participaron 264 estudiantes. 60,3% refiere que siempre usa el respirador N95 cuando interactúa con pacientes con TB. La carrera universitaria (β: -1,23, IC95%: -1,98 a -0,48) y el antecedente de prácticas en servicios de emergencia (β: 3,08, IC95%: 0,618 a 5,541) estuvieron asociados a prácticas de prevención. Conclusión. Existe una importante brecha en los conocimientos y prácticas sobre prevención primaria en TB en estudiantes antes de ingresar al internado.

Introduction. The tuberculosis (TB) is an occupational risk for health workers and health careers students. Objetives: To describe the practices and knowledge about primary prevention of TB in health sciences students, also we identified the associated factors to prevention practices. Methods. We performed a cross sectional study in health careers students of penultimate year of four universities in the city of Tacna. In 2018, we applied a questionnaire that included 16 questions about knowledge and 13 about TB prevention practices. We performed a descriptive analysis for practices and knowledge, in addition the factors associated with the practice score were determined with a linear regression analysis. Results. 264 students participated. Regarding the use of the N95 respirator, 60,3% say that they always use it when interacting with TB patients. The university career (β: -1,23, 95% CI: -1,98 to -0,48) and the previous practices in emergency services (β: 3,08, 95% CI: 0,618 to 5,541) were associated with score for TB prevention practices. Conclusion. Exist an important gap in knowledge and practices about primary prevention of TB in students before starting internship.

Identification of TCERG1 as a new genetic modulator of TDP-43 production in Drosophila.

TAR DNA-binding protein-43 (TDP-43) is a ubiquitously expressed DNA-/RNA-binding protein that has been linked to numerous aspects of the mRNA life cycle. Similar to many RNA-binding proteins, TDP-43 expression is tightly regulated through an autoregulatory negative feedback loop. Cell function and survival depend on the strict control of TDP-43 protein levels. TDP-43 has been identified as the major constituent of ubiquitin-positive inclusions in patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD). Several observations argue for a pathogenic role of elevated TDP-43 levels in these disorders. Modulation of the cycle of TDP-43 production might therefore provide a new therapeutic strategy. Using a Drosophila model mimicking key features of the TDP-43 autoregulatory feedback loop, we identified CG42724 as a genetic modulator of TDP-43 production in vivo. We found that CG42724 protein influences qualitatively and quantitatively the TDP-43 mRNA transcript pattern. CG42724 overexpression promotes the production of transcripts that can be efficiently released into the cytoplasm for protein translation. Importantly, we showed that TCERG1, the human homolog of the Drosophila CG42724 protein, also caused an increase of TDP-43 protein steady-state levels in mammalian cells. Therefore, our data suggest the possibility that targeting TCERG1 could be therapeutic in TDP-43 proteinopathies.

Unveiling the rat urinary proteome with three complementary proteomics approaches.

Urine is a suitable biological fluid to look for markers of physiological and pathological processes, including renal and nonrenal diseases. In addition, it is an optimal body sample for diagnosis, because it is easily obtained without invasive procedures and can be sampled in large quantities at almost any time. Rats are frequently used as a model to study human diseases, and rat urine has been analyzed to search for disease biomarkers. The normal human urinary proteome has been studied extensively, but the normal rat urinary proteome has not been studied in such depth. In light of this, we were prompted to analyze the normal rat urinary proteome using three complementary proteomics platforms: SDS-PAGE separation, followed by LC-ESI-MS/MS; 2DE, followed by MALDI-TOF-TOF and 2D-liquid chromatography-chromatofocusing, followed by LC-ESI-Q-TOF. A total of 366 unique proteins were identified, of which only 5.2% of unique proteins were identified jointly by the three proteomics platforms used. This suggests that simultaneous proteomics techniques provide complementary and nonredundant information. Our analysis affords the most extensive rat urinary protein database currently available and this may be useful in the study of renal physiology and in the search for biomarkers related to renal and nonrenal diseases.

La copolimerización por injerto como medio para preparar gasa médica antibacteriana / Copolymerization by graft as mean to prepare antibacterial medical gauze

Con el objetivo de obtener una gasa antibacteriana y comprobar su eficiencia ante varios microorganismos, se desarrolló un procedimiento para obtener una gasa modificada mediante una reacción química entre el polímero de la celulosa con ácido acrílico y el sulfato de estreptomicina. La cantidad de antibiótico enlazado a la gasa fue de 110 a 150 mg/g de gasa y se comprobó que la efectividad de la estreptomicina en dicha gasa fue de 16 meses, así como que actuó sobre los 4 tipos de microorganismos patógenos ensayados con resultados positivos. Se concluye que el procedimiento desarrollado es efectivo para realizar la acción química y que la actividad del antibiótico no se pierde ni en los procesos de lavados ni de esterilización