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Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is one of the important endemic parasitic infections in Iran. Khorasan-e-Razavi province has the highest prevalence rate of the disease in the northeast of Iran. Objectives: This study aimed to obtain the latest status of CL in Mashhad city, the capital of Khorasan-e-Razavi province, Iran. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 5,241 patients who were referred to Mashhad health centers during 2015 - 2018. The prevalence, number, and site of wounds on the body besides demographical data including, age, sex, nationality, and place of residence were recorded and analyzed by SPSS. Results: The highest and the lowest prevalence rates were 27.6% and 21.3% in the years 2015 and 2018, respectively. The prevalence of CL was higher in the southwest of Mashhad than in the rest of the area. The disease was slightly more common in females (50.1% for women versus 49.9% for men), which was not statistically significant (P = 0.2). The highest incidence rate was observed in the age group of 1 - 9 (21%). The majority of the patients (n = 4971, 94.8%) were Iranian, followed by Afghan (n = 265, 5.05%). Conclusion: The frequency of CL during the past four years in Mashhad was decreasing, but it is still a threat to health. The southwest of Mashhad city had the highest prevalence of CL, so it seems we need more prevention programs in this area. Most CL lesions were seen on hands and faces, which is compatible with the anthroponotic form of CL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to automatically categorize submitted questions based on topics and suggest similar question and answer to the users reduces the number of redundant questions. Our objective was to compare intra-topic and inter-topic similarity between question and answers by using concept-based similarity computing analysis. We gathered existing question and answers from several popular online health communities. Then, Unified Medical Language System concepts related to selected questions and experts in different topics were extracted and weighted by term frequency -inverse document frequency values. Finally, the similarity between weighted vectors of Unified Medical Language System concepts was computed. Our result showed a considerable gap between intra-topic and inter-topic similarities in such a way that the average of intra-topic similarity (0.095, 0.192, and 0.110, respectively) was higher than the average of inter-topic similarity (0.012, 0.025, and 0.018, respectively) for questions of the top 3 popular online communities including NetWellness, WebMD, and Yahoo Answers. Similarity scores between the content of questions answered by experts in the same and different topics were calculated as 0.51 and 0.11, respectively. Concept-based similarity computing methods can be used in developing intelligent question and answering retrieval systems that contain auto recommendation functionality for similar questions and experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Understanding mortality among travellers is essential for mitigating risks and enhancing travel safety. However, limited evidence exists on severe illnesses and injuries leading to death among travellers, particularly in low- and middle-income countries and remote regions., Methods: We conducted a retrospective census study using country-level observational data from death certificates of travellers of seven South American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay) from 2017 to 2021. Causes of death were evaluated using ICD-10 codes, categorised into non-communicable diseases (NCDs), communicable diseases, and injuries. We quantified causes of death by demographic characteristics (e.g. age, sex), and geographical variables. Chi-square tests were used to assess differences between categories. We calculated crude mortality rates and incidence rate ratios (IRRs) per country's subregions., Results: A total of 17 245 deaths were reported. NCDs (55%) were the most common cause of death, followed by communicable diseases (23.4%) and injuries (18.1%). NCD-associated deaths increased after age 55 years and were highest among ≥85 years. Communicable diseases were more common at younger age (<20 years). Injury-associated deaths were more common in men (79.9%) and 25-29-year-olds (17.1%). Most deaths (68.2%) could have been avoided by prevention or treatment. Mortality risk was higher among travellers in bordering regions between countries. In Roraima [Brazil] and Norte de Santander [Colombia], locations bordering Venezuela, the death incidence rate ratio was 863 and 60, respectively. These countries' reference mortality rates in those regions were much lower. More than 80% of the deaths in these border regions of Brazil and Colombia involved Venezuelan citizens. Conclusion: The study identified risk factors and high-risk locations for deaths among travellers in seven countries of South America. Our findings underscore the need for specific health interventions tailored to traveller demographics and destination to optimise prevention of avoidable deaths in South America., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of International Society of Travel Medicine.)

Appropriate accessibility to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) services is essential in the efficient management of the pandemic. Different geospatial methods and approaches have been used to measure accessibility to COVID-19 health-related services. This scoping review aimed to summarize and synthesize the geospatial studies conducted to measure accessibility to COVID-19 healthcare services. Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed were searched to find relevant studies. From 1113 retrieved unique citations, 26 articles were selected to be reviewed. Most of the studies were conducted in the USA and floating catchment area methods were mostly used to measure the spatial accessibility to COVID-19 services including vaccination centres, Intensive Care Unit beds, hospitals and test sites. More attention is needed to measure the accessibility of COVID-19 services to different types of users especially with combining different non-spatial factors which could lead to better allocation of resources especially in populations with limited resources.