This book critically and comparatively examines the responses of the United Nations and a range of countries to the terror attacks on September 11, 2001. It assesses the convergence between the ...responses of Western democracies including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada with countries with more experience with terrorism including Egypt, Syria, Israel, Singapore and Indonesia. A number of common themes - the use of criminal law and immigration law, the regulation of speech associated with terrorism, the review of the state's whole of government counter-terrorism activities, and the development of national security policies - are discussed. The book provides a critical take on how the United Nations promoted terrorism financing laws and listing processes and the regulation of speech associated with terrorism but failed to agree on a definition of terrorism or the importance of respecting human rights while combating terrorism.
Objectives To evaluate the prophylactic efficacy of the human papillomavirus (HPV) quadrivalent vaccine in preventing low grade cervical, vulvar, and vaginal intraepithelial neoplasias and anogenital ...warts (condyloma acuminata).Design Data from two international, double blind, placebo controlled, randomised efficacy trials of quadrivalent HPV vaccine (protocol 013 (FUTURE I) and protocol 015 (FUTURE II)). The trials were to be 4 years in length, and the results reported are from final study data of 42 months’ follow-up.Setting Primary care centres and university or hospital associated health centres in 24 countries and territories around the world.Participants 17 622 women aged 16-26 years enrolled between December 2001 and May 2003. Major exclusion criteria were lifetime number of sexual partners (>4), history of abnormal cervical smear test results, and pregnancy.Intervention Three doses of quadrivalent HPV vaccine (for serotypes 6, 11, 16, and 18) or placebo at day 1, month 2, and month 6.Main outcome measures Vaccine efficacy against cervical, vulvar, and vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia grade I and condyloma in a per protocol susceptible population that included subjects who received all three vaccine doses, tested negative for the relevant vaccine HPV types at day 1 and remained negative through month 7, and had no major protocol violations. Intention to treat, generally HPV naive, and unrestricted susceptible populations were also studied.Results In the per protocol susceptible population, vaccine efficacy against lesions related to the HPV types in the vaccine was 96% for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade I (95% confidence interval 91% to 98%), 100% for both vulvar and vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia grade I (95% CIs 74% to 100%, 64% to 100% respectively), and 99% for condyloma (96% to 100%). Vaccine efficacy against any lesion (regardless of HPV type) in the generally naive population was 30% (17% to 41%), 75% (22% to 94%), and 48% (10% to 71%) for cervical, vulvar, and vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia grade I, respectively, and 83% (74% to 89%) for condyloma.Conclusions Quadrivalent HPV vaccine provided sustained protection against low grade lesions attributable to vaccine HPV types (6, 11, 16, and 18) and a substantial reduction in the burden of these diseases through 42 months of follow-up.Trial registrations NCT00092521 and NCT00092534.
Vaccinations for pregnant women Swamy, Geeta K; Heine, R Phillips
Obstetrics and gynecology (New York. 1953)
125, Številka:
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In the United States, eradication and reduction of vaccine-preventable diseases through immunization has directly increased life expectancy by reducing mortality. Although immunization is a public ...priority, vaccine coverage among adult Americans is inadequate. The Institute of Medicine, the Community Preventive Services Task Force, and other public health entities have called for the development of innovative programs to incorporate adult vaccination into routine clinical practice. Obstetrician-gynecologists are well suited to serve as vaccinators of women in general and more specifically pregnant women. Pregnant women are at risk for vaccine-preventable disease-related morbidity and mortality and adverse pregnancy outcomes, including congenital anomalies, spontaneous abortion, preterm birth, and low birth weight. In addition to providing direct maternal benefit, vaccination during pregnancy likely provides direct fetal and neonatal benefit through passive immunity (transplacental transfer of maternal vaccine-induced antibodies). This article reviews: 1) types of vaccines; 2) vaccines specifically recommended during pregnancy and postpartum; 3) vaccines recommended during pregnancy and postpartum based on risk factors and special circumstances; 4) vaccines currently under research and development for licensure for maternal-fetal immunization; and 5) barriers to maternal immunization and available patient and health care provider resources.
To update the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) recommendations for vaccination in adult patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIIRD) published in 2011. Four systematic ...literature reviews were performed regarding the incidence/prevalence of vaccine-preventable infections among patients with AIIRD; efficacy, immunogenicity and safety of vaccines; effect of anti-rheumatic drugs on the response to vaccines; effect of vaccination of household of AIIRDs patients. Subsequently, recommendations were formulated based on the evidence and expert opinion. The updated recommendations comprise six overarching principles and nine recommendations. The former address the need for an annual vaccination status assessment, shared decision-making and timing of vaccination, favouring vaccination during quiescent disease, preferably prior to the initiation of immunosuppression. Non-live vaccines can be safely provided to AIIRD patients regardless of underlying therapy, whereas live-attenuated vaccines may be considered with caution. Influenza and pneumococcal vaccination should be strongly considered for the majority of patients with AIIRD. Tetanus toxoid and human papilloma virus vaccination should be provided to AIIRD patients as recommended for the general population. Hepatitis A, hepatitis B and herpes zoster vaccination should be administered to AIIRD patients at risk. Immunocompetent household members of patients with AIIRD should receive vaccines according to national guidelines, except for the oral poliomyelitis vaccine. Live-attenuated vaccines should be avoided during the first 6 months of life in newborns of mothers treated with biologics during the second half of pregnancy. These 2019 EULAR recommendations provide an up-to-date guidance on the management of vaccinations in patients with AIIRD.
Background
Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death in children aged four to 18 years and are a major cause of ill health. The school setting offers the opportunity to deliver preventive ...interventions to a large number of children and has been used to address a range of public health problems. However, the effectiveness of the school setting for the prevention of different injury mechanisms in school‐aged children is not well understood.
Objectives
To assess the effects of school‐based educational programmes for the prevention of injuries in children and evaluate their impact on improving children's safety skills, behaviour and practices, and knowledge, and assess their cost‐effectiveness.
Search methods
We ran searches on the following electronic databases to 26 June 2015: PsycINFO, British Education Index (BEI), Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), Applied Social Sciences Index and s (ASSIA), International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), Sociological s; Latin America and the Caribbean database (LILACS), together with several sources of grey literature. The Cochrane Injuries Information Specialist ran searches, to August 2013, on the Groups Specialised Register (SR‐INJ), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and other Cochrane Library databases, Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL and the ISI Web of Science. In keeping with Cochrane standards, along with Cochrane Injuries' Information Specialist we ran an update search prior to publication (September and October 2016). We have screened the results and placed any relevant studies in the Characteristics of studies awaiting classification section of this review.These will be incorporated in the next version of this review, as appropriate.
Selection criteria
We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), non‐randomised controlled trials (non‐RCTs), and controlled before‐and‐after (CBA) studies that evaluated school‐based educational programmes aimed at preventing a range of injury mechanisms. The primary outcome was self‐reported or medically attended unintentional (or unspecified intent) injuries and secondary outcomes were observed safety skills, observed behaviour, self‐reported behaviour and safety practices, safety knowledge, and health economic outcomes. The control groups received no intervention, a delayed injury‐prevention intervention or alternative school‐based curricular activities. We included studies that aimed interventions at primary or secondary prevention of injuries from more than one injury mechanism and were delivered, in part or in full, in schools catering for children aged four to 18 years.
Data collection and analysis
We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane. Two review authors identified relevant trials from title and s of studies identified in searches and two review authors extracted data from the included studies and assessed risk of bias. We grouped different types of interventions according to the outcome assessed and the injury mechanism targeted. Where data permitted, we performed random‐effects meta‐analyses to provide a summary of results across studies.
Main results
The review included 27 studies reported in 30 articles. The studies had 73,557 participants with 12 studies from the US; four from China; two from each of Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and the UK; and one from each of Israel, Greece and Brazil. Thirteen studies were RCTs, six were non‐RCTs and eight were CBAs. Of the included studies, 18 provided some element of the intervention in children aged four to 11 years, 17 studies included children aged 11 to 14 years and nine studies included children aged 14 to 18 years.
The overall quality of the results was poor, with the all studies assessed as being at high or unclear risks of bias across multiple domains, and varied interventions and data collection methods employed. Interventions comprised information‐giving, peer education or were multi‐component.
Seven studies reported the primary outcome of injury occurrence and only three of these were similar enough to combine in a meta‐analysis, with a pooled incidence rate ratio of 0.73 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.49 to 1.08; 2073 children) and substantial statistical heterogeneity (I2 = 63%). However, this body of evidence was low certainty, due to concerns over this heterogeneity (inconsistency) and imprecision. This heterogeneity may be explained by the non‐RCT study design of one of the studies, as a sensitivity analysis with this study removed found stronger evidence of an effect and no heterogeneity (I2 = 0%).
Two studies report an improvement in safety skills in the intervention group. Likewise, the four studies measuring observed safety behaviour reported an improvement in the intervention group relative to the control. Thirteen out of 19 studies describing self‐reported behaviour and safety practices showed improvements, and of the 21 studies assessing changes in safety knowledge, 19 reported an improvement in at least one question domain in the intervention compared to the control group. However, we were unable to pool data for our secondary outcomes, so our conclusions were limited, as they were drawn from highly diverse single studies and the body of evidence was low (safety skills) or very low (behaviour, safety knowledge) certainty. Only one study reported intervention costs but did not undertake a full economic evaluation (very low certainty evidence).
Authors' conclusions
There is insufficient evidence to determine whether school‐based educational programmes can prevent unintentional injuries. More high‐quality studies are needed to evaluate the impact of educational programmes on injury occurrence. There is some weak evidence that such programmes improve safety skills, behaviour/practices and knowledge, although the evidence was of low or very low quality certainty. We found insufficient economic studies to assess cost‐effectiveness.
Vitamin D Insufficiency Thacher, Tom D., MD; Clarke, Bart L., MD
Mayo Clinic proceedings,
2011, 2011-Jan, 2011-01-00, 20110101, Letnik:
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Vitamin D deficiency, which classically manifests as bone disease (either rickets or osteomalacia), is characterized by impaired bone mineralization. More recently, the term vitamin D insufficiency ...has been used to describe low levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D that may be associated with other disease outcomes. Reliance on a single cutoff value to define vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency is problematic because of the wide individual variability of the functional effects of vitamin D and interaction with calcium intakes. In adults, vitamin D supplementation reduces the risk of fractures and falls. The evidence for other purported beneficial effects of vitamin D is primarily based on observational studies. We selected studies with the strongest level of evidence for clinical decision making related to vitamin D and health outcomes from our personal libraries of the vitamin D literature and from a search of the PubMed database using the term vitamin D in combination with the following terms related to the potential nonskeletal benefits of vitamin D: mortality , cardiovascular , diabetes mellitus , cancer , multiple sclerosis , allergy , asthma , infection , depression , psychiatric , and pain . Conclusive demonstration of these benefits awaits the outcome of controlled clinical trials.
Although there is debate about the estimated health burden of rabies, the estimates of direct mortality and the DALYs due to rabies are among the highest of the neglected tropical diseases. Poor ...surveillance, underreporting in many developing countries, frequent misdiagnosis of rabies, and an absence of coordination among all the sectors involved are likely to lead to underestimation of the scale of the disease It is clear, however, that rabies disproportionately affects poor rural communities, and particularly children. Most of the expenditure for postexposure prophylaxis is borne by those who can least afford it. As a result of growing dog and human populations, the burden of human deaths from rabies and the economic costs will continue to escalate in the absence of concerted efforts and investment for control. Since the first WHO Expert Consultation on Rabies in 2004, WHO and its network of collaborating centres on rabies, specialized national institutions, members of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Rabies and partners such as the Gates Foundation, the Global Alliance for Rabies Control and the Partnership for Rabies Prevention, have been advocating the feasibility of rabies elimination regionally and globally and promoting research into sustainable cost-effective strategies. Those joint efforts have begun to break the cycle of rabies neglect, and rabies is becoming recognized as a priority for investment. This Consultation concluded that human dog-transmitted rabies is readily amenable to control, regional elimination in the medium- term and even global elimination in the long-term. A resolution on major neglected tropical diseases, including rabies, prepared for submission to the World Health Assembly in May 2013 aims at securing Member States' commitment to the control, elimination or eradication of these diseases. Endorsement of the resolution would open the door for exciting advances in rabies prevention and control.
Dietary supplements are widely used and offer the potential to improve health if appropriately targeted to those in need. Inadequate nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are prevalent conditions ...that adversely affect global health. Although improvements in diet quality are essential to address these issues, dietary supplements and/or food fortification could help meet requirements for individuals at risk of deficiencies. For example, supplementation with vitamin A and iron in developing countries, where women of reproductive age, infants and children often have deficiencies; with folic acid among women of reproductive age and during pregnancy; with vitamin D among infants and children; and with calcium and vitamin D to ensure bone health among adults aged ≥65 years. Intense debate surrounds the benefits of individual high-dose micronutrient supplementation among well-nourished individuals because the alleged beneficial effects on chronic diseases are not consistently supported. Daily low-dose multivitamin supplementation has been linked to reductions in the incidence of cancer and cataracts, especially among men. Baseline nutrition is an important consideration in supplementation that is likely to modify its effects. Here, we provide a detailed summary of dietary supplements and health outcomes in both developing and developed countries to help guide decisions about dietary supplement recommendations.
Background
This review is an update of a previously published review in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2009, Issue 3).Tea is one of the most commonly consumed beverages worldwide. Teas ...from the plant Camellia sinensis can be grouped into green, black and oolong tea, and drinking habits vary cross‐culturally. C sinensis contains polyphenols, one subgroup being catechins. Catechins are powerful antioxidants, and laboratory studies have suggested that these compounds may inhibit cancer cell proliferation. Some experimental and nonexperimental epidemiological studies have suggested that green tea may have cancer‐preventative effects.
Objectives
To assess possible associations between green tea consumption and the risk of cancer incidence and mortality as primary outcomes, and safety data and quality of life as secondary outcomes.
Search methods
We searched eligible studies up to January 2019 in CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, ClinicalTrials.gov, and reference lists of previous reviews and included studies.
Selection criteria
We included all epidemiological studies, experimental (i.e. randomised controlled trials (RCTs)) and nonexperimental (non‐randomised studies, i.e. observational studies with both cohort and case‐control design) that investigated the association of green tea consumption with cancer risk or quality of life, or both.
Data collection and analysis
Two or more review authors independently applied the study criteria, extracted data and assessed methodological quality of studies. We summarised the results according to diagnosis of cancer type.
Main results
In this review update, we included in total 142 completed studies (11 experimental and 131 nonexperimental) and two ongoing studies. This is an additional 10 experimental and 85 nonexperimental studies from those included in the previous version of the review.
Eleven experimental studies allocated a total of 1795 participants to either green tea extract or placebo, all demonstrating an overall high methodological quality based on 'Risk of bias' assessment. For incident prostate cancer, the summary risk ratio (RR) in the green tea‐supplemented participants was 0.50 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.18 to 1.36), based on three studies and involving 201 participants (low‐certainty evidence). The summary RR for gynaecological cancer was 1.50 (95% CI 0.41 to 5.48; 2 studies, 1157 participants; low‐certainty evidence). No evidence of effect of non‐melanoma skin cancer emerged (summary RR 1.00, 95% CI 0.06 to 15.92; 1 study, 1075 participants; low‐certainty evidence). In addition, adverse effects of green tea extract intake were reported, including gastrointestinal disorders, elevation of liver enzymes, and, more rarely, insomnia, raised blood pressure and skin/subcutaneous reactions. Consumption of green tea extracts induced a slight improvement in quality of life, compared with placebo, based on three experimental studies.
In nonexperimental studies, we included over 1,100,000 participants from 46 cohort studies and 85 case‐control studies, which were on average of intermediate to high methodological quality based on Newcastle‐Ottawa Scale 'Risk of bias' assessment. When comparing the highest intake of green tea with the lowest, we found a lower overall cancer incidence (summary RR 0.83, 95% CI 0.65 to 1.07), based on three studies, involving 52,479 participants (low‐certainty evidence). Conversely, we found no association between green tea consumption and cancer‐related mortality (summary RR 0.99, 95% CI 0.91 to 1.07), based on eight studies and 504,366 participants (low‐certainty evidence).
For most of the site‐specific cancers we observed a decreased RR in the highest category of green tea consumption compared with the lowest one. After stratifying the analysis according to study design, we found strongly conflicting results for some cancer sites: oesophageal, prostate and urinary tract cancer, and leukaemia showed an increased RR in cohort studies and a decreased RR or no difference in case‐control studies.
Authors' conclusions
Overall, findings from experimental and nonexperimental epidemiological studies yielded inconsistent results, thus providing limited evidence for the beneficial effect of green tea consumption on the overall risk of cancer or on specific cancer sites.
Some evidence of a beneficial effect of green tea at some cancer sites emerged from the RCTs and from case‐control studies, but their methodological limitations, such as the low number and size of the studies, and the inconsistencies with the results of cohort studies, limit the interpretability of the RR estimates. The studies also indicated the occurrence of several side effects associated with high intakes of green tea. In addition, the majority of included studies were carried out in Asian populations characterised by a high intake of green tea, thus limiting the generalisability of the findings to other populations. Well conducted and adequately powered RCTs would be needed to draw conclusions on the possible beneficial effects of green tea consumption on cancer risk.
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