The Global Network Socioeconomic Status Index as a predictor of stillbirths, perinatal mortality, and neonatal mortality in rural communities in low and lower middle income country sites of the Global Network for Women’s and Children’s Health Research

Background Globally, socioeconomic status (SES) is an important health determinant across a range of health conditions and diseases. However, measuring SES within low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) can be particularly challenging given the variation and diversity of LMIC populations. Objective The current study investigates whether maternal SES as assessed by the newly developed Global Network-SES Index is associated with pregnancy outcomes (stillbirths, perinatal mortality, and neonatal mortality) in six LMICs: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Pakistan, and Zambia. Methods The analysis included data from 87,923 women enrolled in the Maternal and Newborn Health Registry of the NICHD-funded Global Network for Women’s and Children’s Health Research. Generalized estimating equations models were computed for each outcome by SES level (high, moderate, or low) and controlling for site, maternal age, parity, years of schooling, body mass index, and facility birth, including sampling cluster as a random effect. Results Women with low SES had significantly higher risks for stillbirth (p < 0.001), perinatal mortality (p = 0.001), and neonatal mortality (p = 0.005) than women with high SES. In addition, those with moderate SES had significantly higher risks of stillbirth (p = 0.003) and perinatal mortality (p = 0.008) in comparison to those with high SES. Conclusion The SES categories were associated with pregnancy outcomes, supporting the validity of the index as a non–income-based measure of SES for use in studies of pregnancy outcomes in LMICs

Trends over time in the knowledge, attitude and practices of pregnant women related to COVID-19: A cross-sectional survey from seven low- and middle-income countries

Objective: To understand trends in the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of pregnant women related to COVID-19 in seven low- and middle-income countries. Design: Multi-country population-based prospective observational study. Setting: Study sites in Bangladesh, the Demographic Republic of Congo (DRC), Guatemala, India (two sites), Kenya, Pakistan and Zambia. Population: Pregnant women in the Global Network's Maternal and Neonatal Health Registry (MNHR). Methods: Pregnant women enrolled in the MNHR were interviewed to assess their KAP related to COVID-19 from September 2020 through July 2022 across all study sites. Main outcome measures: Trends of COVID-19 KAP were assessed using the Cochran–Armitage test for trend. Results: A total of 52 297 women participated in this study. There were wide inter-country differences in COVID-19-related knowledge. The level of knowledge of women in the DRC was much lower than that of women in the other sites. The ability to name COVID-19 symptoms increased over time in the African sites, whereas no such change was observed in Bangladesh, Belagavi and Guatemala. All sites observed decreasing trends over time in women avoiding antenatal care visits. Conclusions: The knowledge and attitudes of pregnant women related to COVID-19 varied substantially among the Global Network sites over a period of 2 years; however, there was very little change in knowledge related to COVID-19 over time across these sites. The major change observed was that fewer women reported avoiding medical care because of COVID-19 across all sites over time

Human pharyngeal microbiota in age-related macular degeneration

10.1371/journal.pone.0201768PLoS ONE138e020176

Climate change and plant diseases Mudanças climáticas e doenças de plantas

Human activities are altering greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and causing global climate change. In the near future, there will certainly be changes in the Brazilian phytosanitary scenario attributed to global climate change. The impacts of climate change can be positive, negative or neutral, since these changes can decrease, increase or have no impact on diseases, depending on each region or period. These impacts will also be observed on plants and other organisms as well as on other agroecosystem components. However, these impacts are not easily determined, and consequently, specialists from several areas must go beyond their disciplinary boundaries and placing the climate change impacts in a broader context. This review focuses on the discussion of different aspects related to the effects of climate change on plant diseases. On the geographical and temporal distribution of diseases, a historical context is presented and recent studies using data of forecast models of future climate associated with disease simulation models are discussed in order to predict the distribution in future climate scenarios. Predicted future disease scenarios for some crops in Brazil are shown. On the effects of increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2 and other gases, important aspects are discussed of how diseases change under altered atmospheric gases conditions in the future. The consequences of these changes on the chemical and biological control of plant diseases are also discussed.<br>As atividades antrópicas estão alterando as concentrações de gases de efeito estufa da atmosfera e causando mudanças no clima do planeta. Certamente, num futuro próximo, devido às mudanças climáticas globais, ocorrerão modificações no cenário fitossanitário brasileiro. Os impactos podem ser positivos, negativos ou neutros, pois as mudanças podem diminuir, aumentar ou não ter efeito sobre as doenças, em cada região ou época. Esses impactos também serão observados sobre as plantas e outros organismos, além de outros componentes do agroecossistema. Porém, esses impactos não são facilmente determinados e, desta forma, os especialistas das diferentes áreas precisam ir além de suas disciplinas e abordar os impactos das mudanças climáticas em um contexto mais amplo. Nessa revisão são discutidos os aspectos relacionados com os efeitos das mudanças climáticas sobre as doenças de plantas. Na distribuição geográfica e temporal das doenças, um contexto histórico é apresentado, incluindo estudos recentes utilizando dados de modelos de previsão do clima futuro associados com modelos de simulação da doença a fim de predizer a distribuição nos cenários climáticos futuros. Também são apresentados os cenários futuros de previsão de doenças de algumas culturas no Brasil. Sobre os efeitos do aumento da concentração de CO2 atmosférico e outros gases são discutidos importantes aspectos do comportamento das doenças sujeitas às condições alteradas de gases atmosféricos no futuro. As conseqüências dessas alterações sobre o controle químico e biológico das doenças de plantas também são discutidas