Laboratory surveillance of communicable diseases : enteric pathogens

Laboratories represent a crucial link in the surveillance chain. Since only a small proportion of cases of enteric infections are asked to submit a stool sample, one needs to assess the practices for testing for enteric pathogens and their notification practices. Five local laboratories participated in this study. This included a description of the laboratory practices; capacity for stool sample analysis; awareness of the notification system and the factors which could improve the system at laboratory level.peer-reviewe

Infectious intestinal disease : do we know it all?

Infectious intestinal disease (IID), with associated high morbidity and considerable mortality worldwide, causes a wide spectrum of illness. This ranges from mild discomfort to illness with severe complications. The economic burden from direct and indirect costs may be high. It is acquired by oral ingestion of micro-organisms which are transmitted from person to person; via food or water or through contact with animals or contaminated objects. Viruses are the commonest cause in developed countries. In Malta, medical practitioners and laboratories are the main source of data on IID. However, under-reporting is a problem. In order to fill in the lacunae in information on the disease burden, population-based-studies are required. Along with other countries, Malta has embarked on a number of studies to describe and quantify under-reporting of IID. This may assist in strengthening the surveillance system which, in combination with other measures, should result in an improvement of the control of IID.peer-reviewe

Dwarna : a blockchain solution for dynamic consent in biobanking

Dynamic consent aims to empower research partners and facilitate active participation in the research process. Used within the context of biobanking, it gives individuals access to information and control to determine how and where their biospecimens and data should be used. We present Dwarna—a web portal for ‘dynamic consent’ that acts as a hub connecting the different stakeholders of the Malta Biobank: biobank managers, researchers, research partners, and the general public. The portal stores research partners’ consent in a blockchain to create an immutable audit trail of research partners’ consent changes. Dwarna’s structure also presents a solution to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation’s right to erasure—a right that is seemingly incompatible with the blockchain model. Dwarna’s transparent structure increases trustworthiness in the biobanking process by giving research partners more control over which research studies they participate in, by facilitating the withdrawal of consent and by making it possible to request that the biospecimen and associated data are destroyed.peer-reviewe

RocScholar Annual Report 2021

RocScholar is the institutional repository (IR) for Rochester Regional Health (RRH) and is managed by the Libraries at RRH. It provides storage and access for RRH’s research and scholarly activity. This report highlights the repository’s first year of implementation

Pharmacist intervention in patient monitoring in a psychiatric setting

OBJECTIVES: To develop a ‘Patient Monitoring Tool’ (PMT) to evaluate the quality of pharmaceutical care provided to patients in a psychiatric setting and to determine benefits of ward-based pharmacist services in this setting. METHOD: A PMT consisting of ‘Patient Monitoring Guidelines’ (PMG) and a ‘Pharmaceutical Care Issues Documentation Sheet’ (PCIDS) was developed. The tool was tested for validity, applicability, practicality and reliability and used to monitor 30 patients in an acute psychiatric ward. The PMT was implemented and evaluation was carried out after 4 weeks using a self-administered evaluation questionnaire. KEY FINDINGS: The developed PMT was found to be valid, applicable, practical and reliable for use in the psychiatric setting. A total of 75 pharmaceutical care issues (PCIs) were identified; 55 involved psychotropic medications. A positive evaluation of the tool was obtained. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that the proposed tool can be implemented in an acute psychiatric setting and patient monitoring may lead to optimisation of patient care. Pharmacist incorporation into the multidisciplinary healthcare team and direct patient involvement may further enhance the value of such services.peer-reviewe

Nutrient management

Vertisols and soils with vertic properties are an important soil group in the Ethiopian highlands. Poor drainage, soil, water and nutrient erosion are the most serious problems on highland Vertisols. Due to their high moisture- storage capacity, they have high production potential and this potential remains underutilised because of the difficulty of managing these soils. This paper summarises available information on chemical properties, N, P and mineralogy. Literature on the P status of soils, P nutrition of forage legumes and crops, mycorrhizae and P nutrition, species and varietal variation in response to P, P sorption isotherms and P fertilisation based on forage-based cropping systems is reviewed. The review also highlights the response of various crops to N in the presence of appropriate rhizobium, microbial studies and biological nitrogen fixation and its cycling in Vertisol cropping

Patterns of Land Use/Cover Dynamics in the Mountain Landscape of Tara Gedam and Adjacent Agro-Ecosystem, Northwest Ethiopia

This study analyzed land use/cover dynamics in the mountain landscape of Tara Gedam and adjacent agro-ecosystem of northwest Ethiopia over a period of 46 years (1957–2003). The changes were measured through interpretation of aerial photographs taken in 1957 and 1980, and Land-sat satellite image of 2003 using Arc gis 9.2 software, supported by focal group discussions and field visits. Three separate maps (for years 1957, 1980 and 2003) of the study area were produced and six major land use/cover classes were identified: dense forest, woodland, shrub land, grassland, riverine vegetation and cultivated and settlement land. The results indicated that the main land trajectory was from natural vegetation cover to settlement and cultivated land. The cultivated and settlement land coverage increased by 90.60% between 1957 and 2003. However, woodland, dense forest, riverine vegetation, shrub and grasslands coverage declined by 97.87, 71.04, 37.00, 9.02 and 3.03%, respectively. These could be mainly attributed to anthropogenic factors. Increasing demands of more land for cultivation and settlement, overgrazing, deforestation for fuel wood and construction have resulted in a dramatic shrinkage of the area under natural vegetation. The 1975 national land reform proclamation of the country had also contributed to the expansion of cultivated and settlement land. The implications of these changes are increased land degradation and loss of biodiversity affecting the livelihood of the community. It is suggested that the study area needs an immediate intervention for developing sustainable land use practices and to manage the remaining natural vegetation and to rehabilitate the degraded lands

Assessing the performance of the integrated disease surveillance and response systems:a systematic review of global evidence

Objectives: Public health surveillance systems are critical for detecting and responding to health threats. This review aims to analyze international literature on the performance of these systems in terms of core, support, and attributes of surveillance system. Study design: Systematic review. Methods: Following the preregistered protocol (PROSPERO: CRD42022366051), a systematic search was conducted on PubMed/MEDLINE, CINHAL, CABI, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for articles evaluating Public Health Surveillance System performance from inception to July 21, 2023. Various study designs were included, and quality assessment was performed. Thematic analysis categorized findings into key surveillance system functions. Results: Nine studies from different countries assessed core and supportive functions, as well as surveillance attributes. Performance varied among countries, with some excelling overall and others showing poor performance in specific areas. Many countries' surveillance systems had inadequate performance in key measures in terms of the core and supportive functions, as well as the attributes of the surveillance system. Conclusion: This review shows significant variations in the performance of public health surveillance systems across countries. Further research is needed to understand underperformance reasons and inform global policymaking for strengthening surveillance systems

Grain, fodder and residue management

Although this document is intended to report research on Vertisols, livestock do not respect this boundary as they graze communal land. Hence a general situation of the available feed resources in the highlands is also highlighted which is followed by specific efforts of collaborative partners of the Joint Vertisol Project. In this paper the improvement of native pasture; crop residues as main animal feed and possibilities for increased production; fodder improvement in the Ethiopian highland Vertisols, traditional management and cropping patterns and calendar of highland Vertisols are discussed. This paper examines the possibility of early planting of improved wheat varieties on drained Vertisols as Opposed to the traditional late planting, towards the end of the rainy season, and evaluates wheat varieties in terms of grain and straw yields and quality across highland drained Vertisols sites