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Study Design Injuries sustained in war-zones are variable and constantly developing according to the nature of the ongoing conflict. Soft tissue involvement of the extremities, head and neck often necessitates reconstructive expertise. However, current training to manage injuries in such settings is heterogenous. This study involves a systematic review. Objective To evaluate interventions in place to train Plastic and Maxillofacial surgeons for war-zone environments so that limitations to current training can be addressed. Methods A literature search of Medline and EMBase was performed using terms relevant to Plastic and Maxillofacial surgery training and war-zone environments. Articles that met the inclusion criteria were scored then educational interventions described in included literature were categorised according to their length, delivery style and training environment. Between-group ANOVA was performed to compare training strategies. Results 2055 citations were identified through this literature search. Thirty-three studies were included in this analysis. The highest scoring interventions were over an extended time-frame with an action-oriented training approach, using simulation or actual patients. Core competencies addressed by these strategies included technical and non-technical skills necessary when working in war-zone type settings. Conclusions Surgical rotations in trauma centers and areas of civil strife, together with didactic courses are valuable strategies to train surgeons for war-zones. These opportunities must be readily available globally and be targeted to the surgical needs of the local population, anticipating the types of combat injuries that often occur in these environments.

Background Health Research Capacity Building (HRCB) is key to improving research production among health workers in LMICs to inform related policies and reduce health disparities in conflict settings. However, few HRCB programmes are available in the MENA region, and few evaluations of HRCB globally are reported in the literature. Methods Through a qualitative longitudinal design, we evaluated the first implementation of the Center for Research and Education in the Ecology of War (CREEW) fellowship. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fellows (n = 5) throughout the programme at key phases during their completion of courses and at each research phase. Additional data was collected from supervisors and peers of fellows at their organizations. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis and presented under pre-identified themes. Results Despite the success of most fellows in learning on how to conduct research on AMR in conflict settings and completing the fellowship by producing research outputs, important challenges were identified. Results are categorized under predefined categories of (1) course delivery, (2) proposal development, (3) IRB application, (4) data collection, (5) data analysis, (6) manuscript write-up, (7) long-term effects, and (8) mentorship and networking. Conclusion The CREEW model, based on this evaluation, shows potential to be replicable and scalable to other contexts and other health-related topics. Detailed discussion and analysis are presented in the manuscript and synthesized recommendations are highlighted for future programmes to consider during the design, implementation, and evaluation of such programmes.

Within just a few months, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic managed to bring to the foreground the conversation that infection prevention and control (IPC) experts have been pushing for decades regarding the control of the spread of infections. Implementing the basics of IPC has been a challenge for all affected countries battling with an exponential COVID-19 curve of infection. Preventing nosocomial transmission of the disease has been difficult in highly resourced and stable contexts, but even more so in the conflict context of the Middle East. COVID-19 has added further challenges to the long list of existing ones, hindering the implementation of the optimal IPC measures that are necessary to break the chain of infection of both respiratory and non-respiratory infections in those settings. This paper outlines and gives examples of the challenges faced across the Middle East conflict setting and serves as a call for action for IPC to be prioritized, given the resources needed, and fed with contextualized evidence.

BACKGROUND Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global phenomenon; however, its link to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) remains underexplored, particularly in health care facilities where humanitarian crises prevail. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to identify AMR bacteria in samples collected from WASH services in 2 hospitals in Gaza and to investigate the presence of AMR genes. METHODS A hospital-based cross-sectional study to detect and identify antimicrobial resistance bacteria was conducted. Random samples from water, wastewater, soap, and surface swabs (n=345) were collected from Al-Shifa and European Gaza hospitals and screened for the presence of Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas, Enterococcus, and Staphylococcus aureus. Antimicrobial susceptibility, extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) production, carbapenem resistance, and AMR genes were investigated. RESULTS High levels of bacterial contamination were detected in water and surface swab samples with an overall percentage of 34.1%. Moreover, 22% of the identified Enterobacteriaceae was positive for ESBL, and 14% was positive for modified Hodge test. Over 2/3 of isolated Enterobacteriaceae in water and wastewater samples was found to be resistant to amikacin, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, and imipenem. All Enterobacteriaceae isolates from swab samples were found to be resistant to piperacillin-tazobactam, amikacin, ceftazidime, and ceftriaxone; 13.8% of S. aureus in water samples was methicillin resistant. The prevalence of ESBL genes among Enterobacteriaceae isolates was 25% OXA, 19.4% SHV, 2.8% KPC, 66.7% TEM, 41.7% blaCTXM, and 5.6% blaCTXM-3. For carbapenem-resistant gene (MDM), the prevalence among Enterobacteriaceae was 11.1%, and among Pseudomonas was 12.5%. The antibiotic susceptibility profile was also presented for Pseudomonas, Enterococcus, and S. aureus. CONCLUSIONS The results underline the level of contamination with AMR bacteria in WASH samples and highlight the need to consider the safety of WASH service at health care facilities as an essential aspect in the fight against the spread of AMR and to interrupt nosocomial transmission.

BackgroundDuring periods of civil strife, the need for trauma care and lack of sufficient cleft surgeons causes an increase in children left untreated with cleft lip and palate deformities. During the Syrian war, some cleft care was provided through visiting charities, with surgeries performed both in Syria and neighboring countries. There is a need to increase the number of adequately trained cleft surgeons available in such regions so that care can be achieved beyond mission trips.MethodologyCleft lip and palate repair workshops were delivered to 50 doctors in Syria. Pre-workshop, trainees received supplementary learning material. During the workshop, attendees received didactic teaching followed by 2 simulation sessions. Pre- and post-workshop, attendees completed questionnaires regarding their confidence and ability to perform cleft lip and palate repair.ResultsPre-workshop, 96% of workshop attendees had never independently performed cleft lip repair while 100% of attendees had not previously performed cleft palate repair. The mean pre-workshop confidence score was 2.452. Post-workshop, the mean confidence score was 3.503. Confidence rating scores significantly improved ( P ConclusionThe workshop delivered in Syria, together with this cleft lip and palate simulator provides an effective training tool that may support surgical training globally, particularly those in low-income countries. Further support is needed by charity organizations to ensure the continued delivery of such training.

This Viewpoint calls for a greater understanding of the role that water plays in the transmission of anti-microbial resistance and covid-19 in protracted urban armed conflict, in order to develop a ‘pathogen-safe’ practice. It argues that dealing with the twin threats is difficult enough in the best of circumstances, and is so little understood in war zones that surgeons and water engineers now question if their practice does more harm than good. Experience suggests that the known transmission routes are complicated by a great number of factors, including the entry of heavy metals through bullets in patients’ wounds, hospital over-crowding, mutation in treated water or wastewater, and other threats which endure long after the bombing has stopped. The skeleton research agenda proposes greater sewage surveillance, testing of phages and monitoring of treatment designed to dispel or substantiate these assertions.

Background and objectives: The 57 countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are experiencing rapid increases in their burden of cancer. The First Ladies Against Cancer meeting at the 2016 OIC meeting in Istanbul committed to the importance of cancer control and the need for more evidence to support national cancer control planning (NCCP). Strong research systems are a crucial aspect of NCCP, but few data exist to support policy-makers across this political grouping Methodology: We identified all cancer research papers from OIC countries in the Web of Science from 2008 to 2017 with a filter based on journal names and title words, with high precision and recall. We analysed the country outputs, the cancer sites investigated, the types of research, sources of funding and the citations to the papers. Results: There were 49,712 cancer research papers over this period. The leading countries in terms of output were Turkey, Iran, Egypt and Malaysia, but the most cited papers were from Qatar, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. International collaboration was low, except in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The site-specific cancers accounting for most research were breast and blood, correlating with their disease burden in the OIC countries, but lung, cervical and oesophageal cancers were relatively under-researched. Most funding from within the OIC countries was from their own university sector. Conclusion: Cancer is seriously under-researched in most of the OIC countries. This will undermine the ability of these countries and OIC as a whole to deliver on better cancer control for their populations. New policies, OIC leadership and funding are urgently needed to address this situation.

The pericranium is a vascularized structure that can be used for the treatment of complex scalp and skull defects. It is also utilized as a prophylactic measure to prevent wound complications in high-risk patients. In this study, we looked at the use of the pericranial flap in pediatric patients. A retrospective chart review was done in the American University of Beirut Medical Center from February 2010 to 2020. Ten pediatric patients were identified who required either prophylactic pericranial flap (n = 3) or for treatment of a chronic draining sinus (n = 7). Patients were followed up for an average of 23 days. There were no cases of infection, hematoma, seroma, or meningitis. Only 1 case developed dehiscence of the skin. It was managed conservatively and healed within 2 weeks. The pericranial flap is a workhorse flap for scalp and skull reconstruction, with no donor site morbidity and thus should always be considered.

Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD), also known as sinus histiocytosis with massive lymphadenopathy, is a rare and benign proliferative disease that affects histiocytes. Its etiology remains unclear. Rosai-Dorfman disease primarily affects lymph nodes with many extranodal manifestations present, including cutaneous, pulmonary, ophthalmic, and gastrointestinal. Diagnosis is mainly histologic with the presence of Rosai-Dorfman cells, which demonstrate emperipolesis. We report a case of a 30-year-old man who presented with a facial cutaneous mass and was diagnosed with RDD; he underwent surgical excision. The patient experienced recurrent lesions on the surgical scar and parotid gland as well as the lower back. Treatment consisted of systemic steroids and surgical excision.

Background Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global phenomenon; however, its link to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) remains underexplored, particularly in health care facilities where humanitarian crises prevail. Objective This study aimed to identify AMR bacteria in samples collected from WASH services in 2 hospitals in Gaza and to investigate the presence of AMR genes. Methods A hospital-based cross-sectional study to detect and identify antimicrobial resistance bacteria was conducted. Random samples from water, wastewater, soap, and surface swabs (n=345) were collected from Al-Shifa and European Gaza hospitals and screened for the presence of Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas, Enterococcus, and Staphylococcusaureus. Antimicrobial susceptibility, extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) production, carbapenem resistance, and AMR genes were investigated. Results High levels of bacterial contamination were detected in water and surface swab samples with an overall percentage of 34.1%. Moreover, 22% of the identified Enterobacteriaceae was positive for ESBL, and 14% was positive for modified Hodge test. Over 2/3 of isolated Enterobacteriaceae in water and wastewater samples was found to be resistant to amikacin, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, and imipenem. All Enterobacteriaceae isolates from swab samples were found to be resistant to piperacillin-tazobactam, amikacin, ceftazidime, and ceftriaxone; 13.8% of S. aureus in water samples was methicillin resistant. The prevalence of ESBL genes among Enterobacteriaceae isolates was 25% OXA, 19.4% SHV, 2.8% KPC, 66.7% TEM, 41.7% blaCTXM, and 5.6% blaCTXM-3. For carbapenem-resistant gene (MDM), the prevalence among Enterobacteriaceae was 11.1%, and among Pseudomonas was 12.5%. The antibiotic susceptibility profile was also presented for Pseudomonas, Enterococcus, and S. aureus. Conclusions The results underline the level of contamination with AMR bacteria in WASH samples and highlight the need to consider the safety of WASH service at health care facilities as an essential aspect in the fight against the spread of AMR and to interrupt nosocomial transmission.

Introduction: Secondary or residual cleft lip and nasal deformities following primary unilateral or bilateral cleft lip repair are common. Many classification systems have been proposed to describe congenital cleft lip and palate deformities before repair. This article proposes a one-of-a-kind classification system for residual cleft deformities and describes its application to 136 cleft lip revision cases from cleft outreach missions worldwide. Methods: Patients’ demographics and deformities were classified preoperatively, and a database of the classification was created. Postoperatively, the type of surgery performed was added to the database and comparison was done using an independent t test. Results: Kappa coefficient was 0.92 and showed excellent agreement between the type assigned preoperatively to the patient and the type of procedure done. Conclusions: This system proves to provide good descriptions of the deformities, is user friendly, facilitates the planning of the corrective surgical procedure, and enhances the communicative lingo between surgeons and members of cleft multidisciplinary care teams. It is broadly applicable in outreach missions with limited resources and cleft referral centers with considerable load.

Proboscis Lateralis is a rare congenital anomaly composed of an accessory tubular appendage with possible associated craniofacial anomalies. Computed tomography scan is essential for evaluation of the anomaly and proposing a plan of management. Treatment is complex and should be individualized. The authors present the case of an 18-month old female with left proboscis lateralis associated with left heminasal hypoplasia and coloboma of the left upper eyelid.