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Introduction: The National Scientific Congress (NSC) is an annual event held in Peru in which medical students from all over the country present their research work. Objectives: To determine the publication rate in indexed scientific journals of research papers submitted to the NSCs held between 2010 and 2014, as well as the factors associated with their publication, and to describe the characteristics of the published papers. Materials and methods: Retrospective study in which 407 abstracts of research papers were reviewed. A publication time window of 6 years (from submission) was considered. A bivariate analysis was performed to assess differences between categorical and numerical variables using the chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests, respectively. In addition, a multivariate analysis was performed using Poisson regression models (a crude and an adjusted model), calculating relative risk (RR) values with their respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) to determine the factors associated with the publication of papers. A significance level of p

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The NBOMes are classified as new psychoactive substances and have recently become popular as drugs of abuse, being associated with several intoxication cases and even deaths, leading to its ban in several countries. Until now, the most widely used analytical instrument among forensic laboratories in Brazil is GC-MS. In this study, this instrumentation was employed for routine analyzes of twenty blotter paper seizure by Brazilian Federal Police (BFP) in the southernmost state of the country. However, to acquire more information about these samples, LC-QTOF/MS was used as a supplementary analysis to determinate degradation products, metabolites and unknown compounds. The GC-MS analysis detected only 25B-NBOMe, while the LC-QTOF/MS analysis detected 25B-NBOMe, 2C-B and MDMA. The compounds found in these analyzes are quite different from that found in the national profile of seizures by BFP, suggesting that another rout or supplier act in this region. For research and drug intelligence purposes the use of more versatile, sensitive and specific analytical tool provides a greater number of information that could be employed as a valuable strategy in the drug trafficking combat.

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Keywords: Biological Agents; Biosimilar Pharmaceuticals; Portugal; Psoriasis/drug therapy.

Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

ABSTRACT Introduction Chronic kidney disease is a progressive and irreversible loss of kidney function and considerably affects the lives of patients and their families. Its high incidence necessitates efficient public policies for prevention and treatment. However, policies for chronic kidney disease education and awareness are scarce. Objective To evaluate global public policies for the prevention and treatment of chronic kidney disease adopted in various regions, aiming to comprehend the differences between various models. Methods This integrative review followed PRISMA recommendations and included papers published between 2016 and 2021 across several databases. Results The 44 selected articles were categorized into three themes: structural and financial aspects of the organization of renal healthcare, access to renal healthcare or management of chronic kidney disease, and coping strategies for chronic kidney disease or kidney health. Critical analysis of the papers revealed global neglect of kidney disease in political agendas. Considerable policy variations exist between different countries and regions of the same country. Our research highlighted that free and universal health coverage, especially for the most vulnerable patients, is crucial for accessing treatment owing to the prohibitively high treatment costs. Conclusion Social, economic, and ethnic inequalities strongly correlate with disease occurrence, primarily affecting minority groups who lack health support, especially for the prevention and treatment of chronic kidney disease.

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Copyright of Physis: Revista de Saúde Coletiva is the property of CEPESC and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract Introduction: Brazilian scientific production has shown substantial growth and achieved international visibility. However, in general, the participation of women in scientific activities remains limited. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the indicators of scientific productivity of women fellows of the Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) in the field of Medicine. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 541 (211 women, 39%) researchers registered as recipients of CNPq research productivity (PQ) scholarships in Medicine according to a list provided in December 2022. Results: There was a predominance of male researchers (n=330; 61%). In both the male and female groups, most researchers were at level 2, with 62.5% women and 47.2% men (p=0.018). All 211 female PQ scholars were distributed among 37 different institutions and published 34,969 papers in scientific journals, averaging 165.7 articles per researcher. In the last five years of the study period (from 2018 to 2022), 9,679 papers were published. Over their careers, the 211 researchers supervised 5,440 undergraduate research students, 4,144 master’s degree students, and 2,923 PhD candidates. There was a significant difference between the scholarship levels for the development of human resources in undergraduate research (p=0.040), master’s degree (p=0.027), and PhD. (p

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Copyright of Revista Brasileira de Extensão Universitária is the property of Revista Brasileira de Extensao Universitaria and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Applying appropriate training loads in accordance with the defined objectives promotes optimal physical and physiological adaptations, reduces the likelihood of illness and injury and therefore increases the possibility of success during the Rugby. The aim of this review was to compile and systematize the information in the literature on the association between training load variables (internal and external) and performance outcomes in Rugby. As such, the main objective will be to conduct a systematic review of the published literature to identify the physical and physiological performance variables in Rugby sport to monitor the training load. Following the preferred reporting item for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) and PICOS approach, the search was conducted systematically only in the PubMed database, which, in itself, also restricts the search spectrum of the paper, thus conferring a limitation to the present academic work. The search included specific terms - namely, Rugby; Training Load; - throughout the possible temporal spectrum in PubMed, since there is still little robustness in the literature of the content in question in the sport of Rugby. Articles were selected using pre-defined selection criteria, namely observational studies, randomized clinical studies, and clinical trial studies. The initial electronic search with the variables "Training Load", "Rugby" led to a set of 114 articles, of which only 96 articles were selected after the selection of variables for presenting observational study designs and/or randomized clinical trials. A further screening was carried out, and based on the inclusion criteria of the papers, the result of the analysis of the relevance of the studies was only 19 articles. Three duplicates were eliminated, therefore, the final set of analysis resulted in 16 articles. From the studies compiled in this review, it seems that there is a strong correlation between the perceived exertion (RPE) and the prescription and definition of the training load applied in Rugby athletes. The RPE reflects the most applied and analyzed variable throughout all the studies. Several articles reflect that there is a strong relationship between the training load, and the inter-individual capacity of each athlete and their tolerance to the load (player load).

Regular physical activity (PA) is essential for health maintenance and disease prevention. COVID- 19 and its social isolation affected patients with cardiovascular (CV) disease. This is a scoping review aiming to map, analyze, and summarize the impacts caused by the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic concerning PA and CV health in adults. Methods: The review was based on PRISMA-ScR. PubMed, PubMed Central, BVS/BIREME, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations, and SciELO databases were selected to search. Two search phases were performed: May 2021 and March 2022. English-language full-text papers were included. Initially, the titles and abstracts of the retrieved documents were read and screened based on the research question. A third reviewer resolved disagreement through consensus meetings. An assessment form was adapted for data extraction. The study was registered in the Open Science Framework platform under the DOI https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/AH6P8. Results: 11 papers were included and demonstrated that regular PA could be challenging in social isolation environments. Most participants were moderately active and performed low-intensity PA. Confinement led to the limitation of everyday activities, nutritional disorders, and reduced PA, contributing to weight gain. Quarantine was associated with stress and depression, leading to an unhealthy diet. Possible solutions point to home PA, considering the baseline health and CV status. Conclusion: The post-COVID- 19 era and its consequences point to the pressing need for planning strategies that increase and maintain home PA as a protective measure for the general population, considering CV health, resources, and household space.

The Caribbean is experiencing a worsening epidemic of obesity and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and it has the worst rates of premature mortality from cardiovascular diseases in the region of the Americas. Creating enabling environments to improve dietary diversity would help reduce obesity and diet-related NCDs. The Improving Household Nutrition Security and Public Health in the CARICOM project aimed to increase dietary diversity in the Caribbean, and to determine and implement effective, gender-sensitive interventions to improve food sovereignty, household food security, and nutrition in CARICOM states. Primary quantitative and qualitative research, scoping reviews, stakeholder engagement, implementation of interventions and dissemination activities were undertaken. This paper describes the overall project design and implementation, discusses challenges and limitations, and presents core achievements to inform further work in Small Island Developing States throughout CARICOM to advance the nutrition agenda in the Caribbean. The results of the project’s research activities are presented in other papers published in this special issue on nutrition security in CARICOM states.

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Abstract Objective Our purpose was to facilitate the simulation of preoperative correction to enable shared doctor-patient decision-making in individuals undergoing high tibial osteotomy (HTO). Methods A total of 22 patients underwent high tibial osteotomy using internal or external fixation devices for medial compartment osteoarthritis of the knee. Preoperatively, assessment of deformity parameters and simulation of the corrective osteotomy was done in the presence of the patient, using Bone Ninja. Postoperatively, the patient's satisfaction level with the quality of explanation provided by the use of this software was assessed using the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire-short (PSQ-18). A comparison of the correction obtained using paper cuttings and the simulation software was performed. Results All patients were satisfied with their role in the decision-making process. They showed a good understanding and comprehension of the proposed surgery. There was no statistically significant difference between simulated preoperative Medial Proximal Tibial Angle (MPTA) obtained by paper cuttings and software-assisted correction. The PSQ-18 mean score for communication was 4.24 (0.88), for technical quality it was 4.11 (0.59) and for general satisfaction it was 3.11 (0.68). Conclusion Bone Ninja is an effective, convenient, user-friendly and cost-effective deformity planning tool that supersedes the arduous traditional method of paper tracings and scissors.

HEARTS in the Americas is the regional adaptation of the World Health Organizations Global Hearts Initiative, which will be the model for risk management for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in primary health care in the Region of the Americas by 2025. It has already been implemented in 21 countries and 1045 primary health care centers throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. It takes a public health and health systems approach to systematically introduce simplified interventions at the primary health care level and focuses on hypertension as a clinical entry point. This paper introduces a new, improved application (app), the main component of which is the calculator for CVD risk and hypertension management. The paper summarizes the risk assessment approach and the methodology used by the World Health Organization to update its cardiovascular risk charts in 2019; describes the app, its use, functionality and validation process; and provides a set of practical recommendations for optimizing CVD risk and hypertension management by using the app in clinical practice. The HEARTS app is a powerful tool to improve the quality of care provided in primary health settings. The creation and dissemination of the HEARTS app is an essential step in the journey towards eliminating preventable CVD in the Americas.

Se estudia la disponibilidad en acceso abierto de la producción científica del personal del Servicio Gallego de Salud (Sergas) de los años 2014 a 2019, su evolución a través de las distintas vías de acceso y qué volumen se podría depositar en el repositorio institucional. METODOLOGÍA: A partir de una exportación de Sophos, la herramienta que mide la producción científica del Sergas, se analiza el conjunto de publicaciones en las que participa al menos un autor con filiación institucional del Sergas. Se utilizaron las APIs de Unpaywall, DOAJ y la función Find Full Text de EndNote para determinar si el artículo tenía una versión de texto completo disponible. RESULTADOS: La producción científica del Sergas de 2014 a 2019, excluidas las comunicaciones a congresos, asciende a 7.792 artículos de los cuales el 44.10% de pueden clasificar como de acceso abierto real (dorado, bronce o híbrido), el 51.16% están publicados en revistas que permiten el auto-archivo y solo un 4.75% no admiten acceso abierto o no ofrecen información sobre su política de acceso. Estos artículos se publicaron en 1.695 revistas diferentes, de las cuales 409 siguen el modelo de acceso abierto dorado. CONCLUSIONES: El 95% de los artículos revisados pueden estar disponibles para el usuario final por alguna de las vías de acceso abierto y podrían ser depositados en el repositorio institucional./ This paper studies the open access availability to the Galician Health Service (SERGAS) staff´s scientific production between 2014 and 2019, its evolution through the different open access routes and the volumen of publications that could be deposited in the institutional repository. METHODOLOGY: Based on an export from Sophos, (the tool that measures the scientific production of the SERGAS), this paper analizes the set of publications in which at least one author with SERGAS institutional affiliation. The APIs of Unpaywall, DOAJ and the Find Full Text function of EndNote were used to determine whether the article had a full-text version available. RESULTS: The SERGAS scientific production between 2014 and 2019, excluding conference contributions, amounts to 7,792 articles. 44.10% of those articles can be classified as real open access (gold, bronze or hybrid), 51.16% are published in journals that allow self-archiving and only 4.75% do not support open access or do not provide information on their access policy. These articles were published in 1,695 different journals, 409 of wich follow the gold open access model. CONCLUSIONS: 95% of the articles reviewed would be available to the end user through one of the open access routes and could be deposited in the institutional repository.

This paper highlights the important leadership role of the public health sector, working with other governmental sectors and nongovernmental entities, to advance environmental public health in Latin America and the Caribbean toward the achievement of 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 3: Health and Well-Being. The most pressing current and future environmental public health threats are discussed, followed by a brief review of major historical and current international and regional efforts to address these concerns. The paper concludes with a discussion of three major components of a regional environmental public health agenda that responsible parties can undertake to make significant progress toward ensuring the health and well-being of all people throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

Abstract Preoperative planning (PP) is critical to ensure a successful outcome in orthopaedic trauma surgery. Since it was first described thirty years ago, no modifications have been made to the original preoperative planning (OPP) technique, which was written by hand using pen and paper. We believe that the use of presentation software (such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA, US) can ease, improve and update the OPP and complement three-dimensional PP. The objective of the present paper is to describe our method for PP using a presentation software (PS).

Introduction: There seems to be a fairly close relationship between genital and anal lesions associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) and with the pathogenesis of malignancies in such sites. Objective: This review seeks to analyze published papers that suggest the necessity for anal intraepithelial lesions screening in women with HPV genital intraepithelial lesions. Methods: A systematic review of original research published between 2001 and 2014 was performed in the databases PubMed, HighWire, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar. The keywords for the search were: “screening” or “early detection of cancer” and “anus” or “anus diseases” or “neoplasms anus” and “woman” or “women” and “HPV” or “DNA probes, HPV”. Results: 1,203 articles were selected in the first search. After the reviewers applied exclusion and inclusion criteria and analyzed the papers, 15 were selected to compose this review. Most of them showed higher rates of anal intraepithelial lesions in women with genital intraepithelial lesions than in regular women. We also found a correlation between genital neoplasms and anal infection by oncogenic HPV types and the role of the virus in the pathogenesis of anal cancer. Conclusion: Screening for anal lesions in women with HPV genital lesions should be indicated, and further studies are required to determine the best methods.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and its Member States have been leading the efforts to eradicate wild poliovirus in the Region of Americas since smallpox's successful elimination in 1971. The region became the first to be certified free of wild poliovirus in 1994. However, in July 2022, an unvaccinated patient with no recent travel history was diagnosed with poliomyelitis in the United States of America. In response to the emergence of a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus in the United States, PAHO established the Polio Incident Management Support Team. This team has been coordinating response efforts, focusing on: coordination, planning, and monitoring; risk communication and community engagement; surveillance and case investigation; vaccination; and rapid response. In this paper, we identified and documented best practices observed following establishment of the Incident Management Support Team (September 2022–2023) through a comprehensive review and analysis of various data sources and country-specific data from the polio surveillance dashboard. The aim was to share these best practices, highlighting technical support and implementation of polio measures by Member States. Despite several challenges, the Americas region remains polio-free. Polio risk is declining, with a July 2023 assessment showing fewer countries at medium, high, and very high risk. This progress reflects improved immunization coverage, surveillance, containment, health determinants, and outbreak preparedness and response. The PAHO Polio Incident Management Support Team has played a key role in supporting these efforts.

More than 8 million older people in Latin America depend on long-term care (LTC), accounting for 12% of people aged ≥ 60 years and almost 27% of those aged ≥ 80. It is crucial to develop sustainable strategies for providing LTC in the area, including institutional care. This special report aims to characterize institutional LTC in four countries (Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico), using available information systems, and to identify the strategies adopted to support institutional care in these countries. This narrative review used nationwide, open-access, public data sources to gather demographic estimates and information about institutional LTC coverage and the availability of open-access data for the proportion of people with LTC needs, the number of LTC facilities and the number of residents living in them. These countries have a larger share of older people than the average in Latin America but fewer LTC facilities than required by the demand. National surveys lack standardization in defining disability, LTC and dependency on care. Information about institutional care is mainly fragmented and does not regularly include LTC facilities, their residents and workers. Data are crucial to inform evidence-based decisions to favor prioritization and to support advances in promoting policies around institutional LTC in Latin America. Although information about institutional care in the region is fragmented and insufficient, this paper profiles the four selected countries. It highlights the need for a better structure for datadriven LTC information systems. The lack of information emphasizes the urgency of the need to focus on and encourage research into this topic.

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Copyright of Investigações em Ensino de Ciências is the property of Instituto de Fisica-UFRGS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Interface - Comunicação, Saúde, Educação is the property of Fundacao UNI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: Although food insecurity presents a decreasing trend worldwide, some regions recently observed an increase in hunger levels. Such was the case in Brazil between 2014 and 2018, during and after the great Brazilian recession, and between 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper describes the evolution of food insecurity in Brazil between 2004 and 2022 using Brazilian National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), Brazilian Household Budget Survey (POF) and Continuous PNAD. Households were classified in 20 types of arrangements, and the most vulnerable living arrangements between 2004 and 2018 were identified by multinomial logistic models. Overall, households headed by women (single blacks, whites or in couples) with or without children were the most prone to food insecurity. As for the evolution of food insecurity in Brazil between 2018 and 2022, logistic models were applied to estimate moderate and severe food insecurity levels among the 20 household types. Additionally, effects of the emergency aid and idiosyncrasies of the COVID-19 pandemic were estimated.

Abstract A review involving the six major international orthopedic journals has been published recently. It described the tools used for the evaluation of outcomes in the surgical treatment of recurrent anterior dislocation of the shoulder. There are no studies that exhibit the main outcome tools for this disease in Brazil. The authors evaluated the outcomes of clinical studies involving anterior glenohumeral instability that were published in the last decade in the two leading Brazilian orthopedic journals, Revista Brasileira de Ortopedia and Acta Ortopédica Brasileira. A review of the literature was performed, including all clinical papers published between 2007 and 2016 describing at least one outcome measure before and after surgical intervention. The outcomes were range of motion, muscle strength, physical examination testing, patient satisfaction, return to sports, imaging, complications, and functional outcomes scores. Twelve studies evaluating the clinical outcomes of surgical treatment for anterior shoulder instability were published. Ten studies (83%) were case series (level of evidence IV), 1 (8%) was a case-control study (III), and 1 was a retrospective cohort (III). On average, the number of outcomes assessed was 3.7 ± 1.7. The Rowe score was used in 9 studies (75%), and 7 (58%) papers used the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) scale. Ten studies (83%) reported complications related to surgical treatment. The complication most frequently reported was recurrent instability, found in 9 studies (75%). The national studies have preferentially used scales considered to be of low reliability, responsiveness, and internal consistency.

Copyright of RevInter is the property of InterTox and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Marijuana, dried and ground Cannabis, is the most consumed illicit drug in the world. Many undesirable and risky effects to human health are caused by its use. As Cannabis derived drugs and products gain popularity across the world, there has been more and more reports on mislabeled cannabinoid content of Cannabis plants, concentrates and edibles, as well as the number of health issues and deaths caused by their use. In spite of that, many countries have been making their laws more flexible as to marijuana purchase, sale, possession and consumption. Therefore, the development of methodologies capable of tracing the geographical origin of the seized samples, whether for quality control or forensic purposes, is increasingly necessary. Thus, our objective was to perform an integrative review on Cannabis traceability studies to assess the research being dedicated to this issue. We have found only 20 published scientific papers, using the databases and keywords employed, and several of these papers were published over a decade ago. We conclude that the efforts to trace Cannabis are not keeping up with the rapid changes and flexibilization in the legislation of many countries regarding legalization of the medicinal and/or recreational use of Cannabis.

Pregnant people with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have a higher risk of adverse maternal and fetal outcomes compared with pregnant people without COVID-19. In 2021, large increases in maternal mortality were reported in Jamaica, almost half of which were attributable to COVID-19. COVID-19 vaccination has been shown to reduce these risks, but low- and middle-income countries lack free, publicly available data, known as open data, on COVID-19 vaccine uptake for their pregnant populations. The objectives of this paper were to: review how high-income countries use open data to detect trends in COVID-19 vaccine uptake among pregnant people and develop vaccination distribution strategies; outline barriers to making open data available for maternal COVID-19 vaccination in the Caribbean; and propose a multipronged strategy that would increase the availability of open data on maternal COVID-19 vaccination in the Caribbean. A multipronged strategy to fill the data void would involve: (i) utilizing existing Caribbean maternal immunization data collection entities; (ii) adapting digital software tools to establish maternal electronic immunization registries; and (iii) collaborating with local partners skilled in data analytics. Making open data available for COVID-19 vaccine uptake among pregnant people in the Caribbean could offer substantial benefits, including the development of measurable maternal COVID-19 vaccination goals and the facilitation of vaccine decision-making discussions between providers and pregnant people.

BACKGROUND: Meta-analysis is a very seductive term in scientific papers because it summarizes a compilation of quantitative results; however its interpretation must be done carefully. OBJECTIVE: Search the diabetic retinopathy intervention literature for the occurrence of the term meta-analysis in non-systematic reviews, showing the reader the frequency that they occur and alert to the dangers that inadequate interpretation can cause. METHODS AND MATERIALS: An extensive search in Pubmed was performed for works with the term meta-analysis in the title, abstract and keywords (ti, abs, kw) without date or language restriction. The selected papers were read fully in search of characteristics of systematic review (SR) or not. The results are presented objectively with a critical analysis of each analysed term. RESULTS: We found 39 papers with the term meta-analysis on (ti, abs, kw). 12 (30.8%) of them did not write the study design in the abstract. 14 (35.9%) did not present the search strategy, 15(38.5%) did not mention having a language or date restriction. 23 (59%) did not mention the SR model that was followed and only five (12.8%) registered the protocol. Only two articles fulfilled the RS requirements. CONCLUSION: We found in the literature reviews of selected studies with meta-analysis, not configuring an SR that can induce the reader to interpret it as an SR. The term meta-analysis cannot be interpreted as the panacea for the solution of all doubts.

Internal hernias are a rare cause of bowel obstruction (1%) and can be caused by broad ligament defects in 4% to 7% of the cases. These defects may be congenital or acquired and are classified according to its anatomical location. This paper reports three cases of small bowel obstruction by broad ligament hernia. The patients, three women aged from 35 to 51 years old, were admitted to the emergency department with small bowel obstruction. An exploratory laparotomy was performed during which an internal hernia through a broad ligament defect was identified. In all cases the hernia content was reduced and the defect closed. One of the patients required a segmental enterectomy. All patients had a favorable outcome. This paper aims to raise awareness about the broad ligament hernia as a cause of bowel obstruction, namely in middle-aged women with no surgical history.

Objectives. To conduct an analysis of the most recent data on diabetes and its risk factors by gender and other social determinants of health to understand why its prevalence is higher among women than men in the Caribbean; to inform policy agenda-setting for diabetes prevention and control in the Caribbean; and to identify gaps in the evidence that require further research. Methods. A previous systematic review of the literature describing studies conducted in the Caribbean that presented the distribution of diabetes, its outcomes, and risk factors, by one or more social determinants, was updated to include sources from 1 January 2007 – 31 December 2016. Surveys by the World Health Organization (WHO) were also included. Where data were sufficient, meta-analyses were undertaken. Results. A total of 8 326 manuscripts were identified. Of those, 282 were selected for full text review, and 114, for abstraction. In all, 36 papers, including WHO-related surveys, had sufficient information for meta-analysis. More women compared to men were obese (OR: 2.1; 95%CI = 1.65 – 2.69), physically inactive (OR: 2.18; 95%CI = 1.75 – 2.72), and had diabetes (OR: 1.48; 95%CI = 1.25 – 1.76). More men smoked (OR: 4.27; 95%CI = 3.18 – 5.74) and had inadequate fruit and vegetable intake (OR: 1.37; 95%CI = 1.21 – 1.57) Conclusion. Thirty-six papers were added to the previously conducted systematic review; of those, 13 were added to the meta-analysis. Diabetes and its risk factors (primarily obesity and physical inactivity) continue to disproportionately affect women in the Caribbean. Smoking interventions should be targeted at men in this geographic area.

Like many nations in the Americas, the countries of the Caribbean are facing increasing morbidity and mortality associated with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). In 2007, based on advocacy by Sir George Alleyne and others, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) convened the first in the world Heads of Government NCDs Summit. This summit issued the Port of Spain Declaration that served not only as a rallying point to accelerate the regional NCDs response, but also as a catalyst for the first United Nations high-level meeting on NCDs in September 2011. In 2014, seven years after the CARICOM NCDs Summit, a formal evaluation of the Port of Spain Declaration (POSDEVAL) was conducted to investigate its impact and learn lessons to support and further accelerate its implementation. One mechanism was to review successes and challenges in the NCDs response and effectively communicate findings to stakeholders and the public. The results of the evaluation and the implementation of the Port of Spain Declaration are presented by other papers in this supplement. The present paper describes the communication and social information process used for sharing POSDEVAL findings across multiple layers of social influence in the Caribbean, primarily in 2016 – 2017. The main steps of the communication process are shared as a possible strategy for disseminating NCDs research information and accelerating control and policy adoption in other Small Island Developing States and middle-income countries.