Research on HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last ten years.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Solorzano-Salazar DM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9958499 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Research on HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last ten years.
Solorzano-Salazar Dustin M DM Hernández-Vásquez Akram A Visconti-Lopez Fabriccio J FJ Azañedo Diego D
Heliyon 20230215 3
Worldwide, Human T-lymphtropic virus-1 and 2 (HTLV-1 and 2) infects approximately more than 10 million people, mostly occurring in hyperendemic areas such as the region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). A comprehensive bibliographic exploration of original articles published on the Web of Science Core Collection database over the last 10 years was done. A bibliometric analysis was performed using the bibliometrix package in RStudio and VOSviewer. A total of 519 articles published in 194 ...[more]
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Project description:BackgroundProgress towards universal health coverage requires health policies and systems that are informed by contextualised and actionable research. Many challenges impede the uptake of evidence to enhance health policy implementation and the coverage, quality, efficiency and equity of health systems. To address this need, we developed an innovative model of implementation research embedded in real-world policy and programme cycles and led directly by policy-makers and health systems decision-makers. The approach was tested in ten settings in Latin America and the Caribbean, supported under a common funding and capacity strengthening initiative. The present study aims to analyse ten embedded implementation research projects in order to identify barriers and facilitators to embedding research into policy and practice as well as to assess the programme, policy and systems improvements and the cross-cutting lessons in conducting research embedded in real-world policy and systems decision-making.MethodsThe multi-country analysis is based on the triangulation of data collected via three methods, namely (1) document review, (2) an electronic questionnaire and (3) in-depth interviews with decision-makers. Data from the document review was charted and narratively synthesised. Data from the questionnaire was used to assess three characteristics of the decision-maker's participation in embedded research, namely (1) level of engagement in different stages of research; (2) extent to which their capacities to conduct and use research were developed; and (3) the level of confidence in undertaking implementation research activities. Interview data was analysed using a thematic approach.ResultsThe main barriers to effective delivery or scale-up of health interventions identified in the research projects were inadequate financing, fragmentation of healthcare services and information systems, limited capacity of health system stakeholders, insufficient time, cultural factors, and a lack of information. Decision-makers' experience in embedded research showed strong engagement in protocol development, moderate engagement in data collection and low engagement in data analysis. The in-depth interviews identified 17 facilitators and 8 barriers to embedding research into policy and systems. The principal facilitating factors were actionability of findings, relevance of research and engagement of decision-makers, whereas the main barriers were time and political processes. In Argentina, the research led to the development of new monitoring indicators to improve the implementation of the perinatal health policy, while in Chile, empirical findings supported the establishment of a training programme on reproductive rights, targeted to municipal health facilities.ConclusionsThis multi-country analysis contributes to the evidence base for the embedded research approach to support health policy and systems decisions-making. Embedding research into policy and practice stimulates the relevance and applicability of research, while promoting decision-makers' engagement and likelihood to use research evidence in policy-making and health systems strengthening.
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Project description:IntroductionThe Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID19) pandemic has struck Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) particularly hard. One of the crucial areas in the international community's response relates to accelerating research and knowledge sharing. The aim of this article is to map and characterise the existing empirical research related to COVID-19 in LAC countries and contribute to identify opportunities for strengthening future research.MethodsIn this scoping review, articles published between December 2019 and 11 November 2020 were selected if they included an empirical component (explicit scientific methods to collect and analyse primary data), LAC population was researched, and the research was about the COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of publication status or language. MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, Scielo, CENTRAL and Epistemonikos were searched. All titles and abstracts, and full texts were screened by two independent reviewers. Data from included studies was extracted by one reviewer and checked by a second independent reviewer.Results14,406 records were found. After removing duplicates, 5,458 titles and abstracts were screened, of which 2,323 full texts were revised to finally include 1,626 empirical studies. The largest portion of research came from people/population of Brazil (54.6%), Mexico (19.1%), Colombia (11.2%), Argentina (10.4%), Peru (10.3%) and Chile (10%), while Caribbean countries concentrated 15.3%. The methodologies most used were cross-sectional studies (34.7%), simulation models (17.5%) and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (13.6%). Using a modified version of WHO's COVID-19 Coordinated Global Research Roadmap classification, 54.2% were epidemiological studies, followed by clinical management (22.3%) and candidate therapeutics (12.2%). Government and public funds support were reported in 19.2% of studies, followed by universities or research centres (9%), but 47.5% did not include any funding statement.ConclusionDuring the first part of the COVID-19 pandemic, LAC countries have contributed to the global research effort primarily with epidemiological studies, with little participation on vaccines research, meaning that this type of knowledge would be imported from elsewhere. Research agendas could be further coordinated aiming to enhance shared self-sufficiency regarding knowledge needs in the region.
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Project description:Fungi are amongst the most abundant and diverse organisms. Despite being widely known for their adverse role in food spoilage or as pathogens for humans, animals, or plants, they also present several beneficial effects. Fungi contribute to human well-being due to their role as decomposers, degrading decay matter into smaller molecules which can be easily used by other ecosystem members. These organisms can produce medicinal compounds or modulate protective immune responses in human intestine. Fungi intervene in diverse food processes or act as a food supply. Due to fungal diversity, the unequivocal identification of these organisms is crucial to increasing their practical applications and decreasing their adverse effects. The process of identification could be achieved through the integral sequencing of fungi genomes. However, this procedure would be time-consuming and rather cost-inefficient. Therefore, several molecular markers have been developed to overcome these limitations. The chronology of DNA-based molecular markers development can be divided into three main steps: (1) prior to the development of the PCR technique (RFLP); (2) after the development of the PCR technique (RAPD, AFLP, ISSR, VNTR, SNP, InDels, and DNA barcoding); (3) after the development of the massive parallel sequencing technique (Metabarcoding and WGS). Therefore, the present review covers an overview of the most recently developed molecular markers used for fungal detection and identification.
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