Dementia risk reduction in the African context: Multi-national implementation of multimodal strategies to promote healthy brain aging in Africa (the Africa-FINGERS project).

Dementia prevention in Africa is critically underexplored, despite the continent's high prevalence of modifiable risk factors. With a predominantly young and middle-aged population, Africa presents a prime opportunity to implement evidence-based strategies that could significantly reduce future dementia cases and mitigate its economic impact. The multinational Africa-FINGERS program offers an innovative solution, pioneering culturally sensitive, multidomain interventions tailored to the unique challenges of the region.

International Trends in Zinc Treatment for Diarrhea.

Background: Diarrhea is a leading cause of death among children <5 years of age and can have long-term adverse consequences for human development. The World Health Organization has recommended the therapeutic use of zinc for the treatment of diarrhea, along with oral rehydration solutions, since 2004. We studied recent trends in the use of zinc to treat diarrhea in 23 low- and middle-income countries.

Gender-specific associations between sleep stages and cardiovascular risk factors.

Study Objectives: Sleep characteristics are associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and both sleep and CVD risk vary by gender. Our objective was to examine associations between polysomnographic sleep characteristics and CVD risk after excluding moderate-severe sleep apnea, and whether gender modifies these associations.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with at-home polysomnography in adults in Brazil (n = 1102 participants with apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) <15 events/hour).

"Empathy for children is often missing": a mixed methods analysis of a German forum on COVID-19 pandemic measures.

Background: The pandemic and its preventive measures disrupted daily routines and posed unforeseen obstacles for families. Users of public online forums chronicled these challenges by freely expressing their sentiments in unrestricted text-length formats. We explored a German COVID-19 forum to understand family perspectives and experiences of pandemic measures, particularly in terms of testing and vaccinating children.

Experience of health care utilization for inpatient and outpatient services among older adults in India.

Background: Patient experiences have not been documented at all India level among older adults for inpatient and outpatient services. We provide all-India and sub national estimates on six domains of patient experience, namely: waiting time, respectful treatment, clarity of explanation provided, privacy during consultation, treated by provider of choice, and cleanliness of facility.

Methods: Unit records of adults aged 45 years and above for their inpatient (n = 4330) or outpatient (n = 33,724) service use were assessed from the Longitudinal Ageing Survey of India (LASI), conducted in 2017-18.

Association between neonatal mortality and births not weighed among 400 thousand institutional deliveries in 32 low- and middle-income countries.

Background: Low birthweight (LBW) children have a higher risk of neonatal mortality. All institutional deliveries, therefore, should be weighed to determine appropriate care. Mortality risk for newborns who are not weighed at birth (NWB) is unknown.

The global geography of artificial intelligence in life science research.

Artificial intelligence (AI) promises to transform medicine, but the geographic concentration of AI expertize may hinder its equitable application. We analyze 397,967 AI life science research publications from 2000 to 2022 and 14.5 million associated citations, creating a global atlas that distinguishes productivity (i.

Effects of glycaemic control on memory performance, hippocampal volumes and depressive symptomology.

Background: Diabetes and poor glycaemic control have been shown to negatively impact cognitive abilities, while also raising risk of both mood disorders and brain structural atrophy. Sites of atrophy include the hippocampus, which has been implicated in both memory performance and depression. The current study set out to better characterise the associations between poor glycaemic control, memory performance, and depression symptoms, and investigate whether loss of hippocampal volume could represent a neuropathological mechanism underlying these.

Social support receipt as a predictor of mortality: A cohort study in rural South Africa.

The mechanisms connecting various types of social support to mortality have been well-studied in high-income countries. However, less is known about how these relationships function in different socioeconomic contexts. We examined how four domains of social support-emotional, physical, financial, and informational-impact mortality within a sample of older adults living in a rural and resource-constrained setting.

Life course financial mobility and later-life memory function and decline by gender, and race and ethnicity: an intersectional analysis of the US KHANDLE and STAR cohort studies.

Background: Intersectionality has rarely been considered in research studies of cognitive ageing. We investigated whether life-course financial mobility is differentially associated with later-life memory function and decline across intersectional identities defined by gender, and race and ethnicity.

Methods: Data were from two harmonised multiethnic cohorts (the Kaiser Healthy Aging and Diverse Life Experiences cohort and the Study of Healthy Aging in African Americans cohort) in northern California, USA (n=2340).

District-level monitoring of universal health coverage, India.

Objective: To develop a framework and index for measuring universal health coverage (UHC) at the district level in India and to assess progress towards UHC in the districts.

Methods: We adapted the framework of the World Health Organization and World Bank to develop a district-level UHC index (UHC ). We used routinely collected health survey and programme data in India to calculate UHC for 687 districts from geometric means of 24 tracer indicators in five tracer domains: reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health; infectious diseases; noncommunicable diseases; service capacity and access; and financial risk protection.

Impact of the South African Child Support Grant on memory decline and dementia probability in rural and low-income mothers, 2014-2021.

Introduction: Aging populations across sub-Saharan Africa are rapidly expanding, leading to an increase in the burden of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Cash transfer interventions are one plausible mechanism to combat ADRD at a population-level in low-income settings. We exploited exogenous variation in eligibility for South Africa's Child Support Grant (CSG) to estimate the longitudinal association between potential CSG benefit and cognitive trajectories in rural mothers with <10 children (n = 1090).

The care cascade of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in China: a cross-sectional study of individual-level data at enrolment into the national 'Happy Breathing' Programme.

Background: Understanding the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) care cascade is crucial for identifying where and when to intervene to improve COPD outcomes. We aimed to determine the proportion of patients with COPD seeking care in China's health system who are lost at each stage of the COPD care cascade and how the patterns of loss vary across geographical regions and population groups.

Methods: From November 3, 2018, to April 22, 2021, we used individual-level patient data from the national Chinese 'Happy Breathing' Programme, which aims to identify patients with COPD and provide appropriate care.

Socioeconomic inequality in child health outcomes in India: analyzing trends between 1993 and 2021.

Background: The health of India's children has improved over the past thirty years. Rates of morbidity and anthropometric failure have decreased. What remains unknown, however, is how those patterns have changed when examined by socioeconomic status.

The Fulfillment Center Intervention Study: Protocol for a group-randomized control trial of a participatory workplace intervention.

Warehousing and storage is an economically vital industry, with 1.2 million workers in 2020. The Fulfillment Center Intervention Study focuses on workers in fulfillment centers in the e-commerce segment of this industry.