Search

Objectives: Pediatric tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis is complicated by challenges in obtaining invasive respiratory specimens that frequently contain few Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) bacilli. We report the diagnostic performance of an Mtb antigen-derived peptide (MAP-TB) assay and its ability to monitor TB treatment response., Methods: Study cohorts enrolled children who presented with presumptive TB at two hospitals in South Africa from 2012 to 2017 (157 children aged <13 years) and at community-based clinics in the Dominican Republic from 2019 to 2023 (101 children aged <18 years). Children were evaluated for TB at enrollment and six months post-enrollment and assigned confirmed, unconfirmed, or unlikely TB diagnoses using the 2015 NIH diagnostic criteria for pediatric TB. MAP-TB assay performance was evaluated using serum collected at baseline and at regular intervals post-enrollment following STARD guidelines., Results: MAP-TB sensitivity for confirmed and unconfirmed TB was comparable to culture and Xpert sensitivity for confirmed TB, but MAP-TB specificity revealed age-dependence, decreasing from 98·1% to 78·4%, when including children aged <1 year. MAP-TB values decreased by six months post-treatment initiation in children with symptom improvement., Conclusions: Serum MAP-TB results can effectively diagnose pediatric TB, including unconfirmed and extrapulmonary TB missed by current methods, and correspond to effective treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: TYH Patent Number PCT US20/37785; founder of NanoPin Technologies; owns stock in NanoPin Technologies. CJL, officer at NanoPin Technologies; inventor on NanoPin Patent Application Number: 63/006.822; owns stock in NanoPin Technologies. Declarations of interest TYH Patent Number PCT US20/37785; founder of NanoPin Technologies; owns stock in NanoPin Technologies. CJL, officer at NanoPin Technologies; inventor on NanoPin Patent Application Number: 63/006.822; owns stock in NanoPin Technologies., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Importance: Workplace violence (WPV) against health care workers (HCWs) is common and likely underreported. Reliable data on the incidence of WPV and its impact on victims are lacking., Objective: To prospectively define the frequency of WPV against HCWs in the emergency department (ED), examine whether HCW demographics are associated with increased risk, and explore the impact of these events on HCWs., Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study was conducted over 2 months in 2023 (August 28 to October 22, 2023) in the ED of a large, urban, academic safety net hospital in the US. Participants included ED physicians, nurses, and other HCWs, who were asked to complete a brief so-called shift sheet for every ED shift worked during the study period., Exposure: WPV as recorded on shift sheets., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was the number of events per shift. Events were coded for severity (types 1-5) and gender- or race and ethnicity-related bias. Shift sheets asked for the participant's demographics and whether they experienced verbal or physical abuse during the shift. If so, they were asked to provide a description; rate the impact the event had on them; and indicate whether they felt the event was sexist, racist, or otherwise biased. Perceived impact was recorded, and demographic characteristics associated with the likelihood of experiencing WPV were explored using multivariable logistic regression analysis., Results: Among 72 HCWs who participated in the study, 52 were female (72%). A total of 575 shift sheets were returned of an estimated 1250 possible (46%), with 155 events, including 77 type 1 events (50%; shouting, yelling, or insults), 29 type 2 events (19%; threats of physical or sexual violence, death threats, or use of slurs), and 39 type 3 events (25%; physical violence); there was a mean (SD) of 3.7 (1.9) shifts per 1 event. No type 4 or 5 events, which involve physical violence causing grievous injuries requiring medical attention and, in the case of type 5 events, permanent disability or death, were recorded. Ten events could not be coded. Sexist or racist bias occurred in 38 events (25%) and 11 events (7%), respectively. Participants reported how the event impacted them in 133 events. Of those, moderate or severe impact was reported in 32 (24%) and mild to no effect in 101 (76%). There was no association between self-reported impact and coded severity of events. In a multivariable logistic regression analysis, a higher likelihood of experiencing WPV on any given shift was independently associated with being in the nursing role (odds ratio, 3.1; 95% CI, 1.9-5.0) and being age 40 years or younger (odds ratio, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.2-3.5)., Conclusions and Relevance: In this cross-sectional study of HCWs in the ED, participants experienced WPV once every 3.7 shifts. The nursing role and younger age were associated with increased risk. These results highlight an urgent need to identify interventions to support and protect HCWs.

Background: Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in health care fosters many positive outcomes including improved patient care. DEI initiatives are often created by or require buy-in from departmental leaders with low DEI literacy. Book clubs are one way to develop DEI literacy. The purpose of this paper is to describe how leaders in the department of emergency medicine (DEM) process the information gained from reading a DEI book through discussion in a book club setting and explore how participation enhances their DEI literacy and fosters self-reflection., Methods: This was a qualitative exploratory study based on a constructivist approach. Data were analyzed by four researchers using inductive thematic analysis techniques., Results: Sixty-eight leaders within the DEM participated in 11 book clubs. Nine themes were identified (examination of privilege, initial reaction to discussion about racism, discomfort, worry, self-reflection, release, role recognition, readiness, and education). After prompted examination of their own privilege participants moved through a model of perceived readiness to act. Participants started with feeling paralyzed by the work's enormity or becoming defensive. They then moved toward discomfort with discussions of racism and systemic racism and progressed to discussions around worrying that they were contributing to noninclusive environments. After a period of self-reflection, participants tended to release their paralysis, push aside their defensiveness, accept the role of discomfort, and express the importance of education on these issues. Participants then recognized their role in creating inclusive environments and started discussing what they can do about it, which, for many, was to show up to the conversation. An underlying driver of movement through this model was the education that was provided through the book., Conclusions: By addressing privilege and systemic inequities through the reflective practice and dialogue of a book club, participants demonstrated a growing commitment and perceived readiness to advancing inclusive practices within medicine., (© 2024 The Author(s). Academic Emergency Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.)

Rifampicin-resistant (RR) tuberculosis (TB) in children is a major global health concern but is often neglected in economics research. Accurate cost estimations across the spectrum of paediatric RR-TB treatment regimens are critical inputs for prioritisation and budgeting decisions, and an existing knowledge gap at local and international levels. This normative cost analysis was nested in a Phase I/II pharmacokinetics, safety, tolerability, and acceptability trial of TB medications in children in South Africa, the Philippines and India. It assessed the pharmaceutical costs of 36 childhood RR-TB regimens using combinations from 16 different medicines in 34 oral formulations (adult and child-friendly) in 11 weight bands in children <15 years of age. The analysis used local and Global Drug Facility pricing, and local and international guideline recommendations, including adaptions of BPaL and BPaLM regimens in adults. Costs varied significantly between regimen length, age/weight banding, severity of disease, presence of fluroquinolone resistance, and different country guideline recommendations. WHO recommended regimen costs ranged 12-fold: from US$232 per course (short regimen in non-severe disease) to US$2,761 (long regimen in severe, fluroquinolone-resistant disease). Regimen treating fluoroquinolone-resistant infection cost US$1,090 more than comparable WHO-recommended regimen. Providing child-friendly medicine formulations in <5-year-olds across all WHO-recommended regimens is expected to cost an additional $380 (range $212-$563) per child but is expected to have wider benefits including palatability, acceptability, adherence, tolerability, and dose accuracy. There were substantial differences in regimen affordability between countries when adjusted for purchasing power and domestic spending on health. Appropriate, effective, and affordable treatment options are an important component of the fight against childhood RR-TB. A comprehensive understanding of the cost and affordability dynamics of treatment options will enable national TB programs and global collaborations to make the best use of limited healthcare resources for the care of children with RR-TB., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Wilkinson et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Children with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, CWH) are at high risk of tuberculosis (TB) and face poor outcomes, despite antiretroviral therapy (ART). We evaluated outcomes in CWH and children not living with HIV treated for nonsevere TB in the SHINE trial., Methods: SHINE was a randomized trial that enrolled children aged <16 years with smear-negative, nonsevere TB who were randomized to receive 4 versus 6 months of TB treatment and followed for 72 weeks. We assessed TB relapse/recurrence, mortality, hospitalizations, grade ≥3 adverse events by HIV status, and HIV virological suppression in CWH., Results: Of 1204 children enrolled, 127 (11%) were CWH, of similar age (median, 3.6 years; interquartile range, 1.2, 10.3 versus 3.5 years; 1.5, 6.9; P = .07) but more underweight (weight-for-age z score, -2.3; (3.3, -0.8 versus -1.0; -1.8, -0.2; P < .01) and anemic (hemoglobin, 9.5 g/dL; 8.7, 10.9 versus 11.5 g/dL; 10.4, 12.3; P < .01) compared with children without HIV. A total of 68 (54%) CWH were ART-naive; baseline median CD4 count was 719 cells/mm3 (241-1134), and CD4% was 16% (10-26). CWH were more likely to be hospitalized (adjusted odds ratio, 2.4; 1.3-4.6) and to die (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 2.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2 to 5.8). HIV status, age <3 years (aHR, 6.3; 1.5, 27.3), malnutrition (aHR, 6.2; 2.4, 15.9), and hemoglobin <7 g/dL (aHR, 3.8; 1.3,11.5) independently predicted mortality. Among children with available viral load (VL), 45% and 61% CWH had VL <1000 copies/mL at weeks 24 and 48, respectively. There was no difference in the effect of randomized treatment duration (4 versus 6 months) on TB treatment outcomes by HIV status (P for interaction = 0.42)., Conclusions: We found no evidence of a difference in TB outcomes between 4 and 6 months of treatment for CWH treated for nonsevere TB. Irrespective of TB treatment duration, CWH had higher rates of mortality and hospitalization than their counterparts without HIV. Clinical Trials Registration. ISRCTN63579542., Competing Interests: Potential conflicts of interest. C. C., E. W., S. H., Vi. M., and A. C. H. report institutional funding to participate as SHINE trial sites from the UK MRC–Clinical Trials at University College, London, through a prime grant award from UK MRC, Wellcome Trust, and Department for International Development (grant MR/L004445/1). A. T., A. K., and D. G. report a COVID 19 Grant Extension Allocation award 181573 from UK Research Innovation. All other authors report no potential conflicts. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America.)

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health crisis across the globe, and one particular act of IPV, non-fatal strangulation, warrants serious attention. Non-fatal strangulation is a risk factor for intimate partner homicide (IPH) and can create long-term negative mental and physical health consequences. In this meta-analysis, we sought to examine factors associated with non-fatal strangulation victimization among women to help inform education and assessment efforts. Using database searches and Boolean search terms, a total of 16 studies met the inclusion criteria. A total of 16 factors that were found in at least two unique studies were examined. The strongest associated factors included physical IPV victimization, physical injury, IPH, and sexual IPV victimization. Other significant associated factors included lower education, anxiety symptoms, perceived risk of harm, post-traumatic stress symptoms, depressive symptoms, stalking victimization, and identifying as a Black woman. Experiencing childhood trauma, the length of the relationship, age, substance use, and identifying as Hispanic were not significantly related to strangulation victimization by an intimate partner. Education and assessment implications are discussed., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Introduction: Tuberculosis remains one of the top ten causes of mortality globally. Children accounted for 12% of all TB cases and 18% of all TB deaths in 2022. Paediatric TB is difficult to diagnose with conventional laboratory tests, and chest radiographs remain crucial. However, in low-and middle-income countries with high TB burden, the capacity for radiological diagnosis of paediatric TB is rarely documented and data on the associated radiation exposure limited., Methods: A multicentre, mixed-methods study is proposed in three countries, Mozambique, South Africa and Spain. At the national level, official registry databases will be utilised to retrospectively compile an inventory of licensed imaging resources (mainly X-ray and Computed Tomography (CT) scan equipment) for the year 2021. At the selected health facility level, three descriptive cross-sectional standardised surveys will be conducted to assess radiology capacity, radiological imaging diagnostic use for paediatric TB diagnosis, and radiation protection optimization: a site survey, a clinician-targeted survey, and a radiology staff-targeted survey, respectively. At the patient level, potential dose optimisation will be assessed for children under 16 years of age who were diagnosed and treated for TB in selected sites in each country. For this component, a retrospective analysis of dosimetry will be performed on TB and radiology data routinely collected at the respective sites. National inventory data will be presented as the number of units per million people by modality, region and country. Descriptive analyses will be conducted on survey data, including the demographic, clinical and programmatic characteristics of children treated for TB who had imaging examinations (chest X-ray (CXR) and/or CT scan). Dose exposure analysis will be performed by children's age, gender and disease spectrum., Discussion: As far as we know, this is the first multicentre and multi-national study to compare radiological capacity, radiation protection optimization and practices between high and low TB burden settings in the context of childhood TB management. The planned comparative analyses will inform policy-makers of existing radiological capacity and deficiencies, allowing better resource prioritisation. It will inform clinicians and radiologists on best practices and means to optimise the use of radiological technology in paediatric TB management., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Munyangaju et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) to diagnose tuberculosis (TB) was assessed in 131 children under 5 years old hospitalized with severe acute malnutrition. Of these, 23% had confirmed or unconfirmed TB and 5% were HIV-infected. There were no POCUS findings associated with TB diagnosis. POCUS visualization quality was satisfactory for 65% and examination acceptability was "good" for 52%., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Little is known about post-tuberculosis lung disease in adolescents. We prospectively assessed lung function in adolescents with microbiologically confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis during treatment and after treatment completion., Methods: In a prospective study, we enrolled adolescents diagnosed with microbiologically confirmed tuberculosis and healthy tuberculosis-exposed household controls, between October 2020 and July 2021 in Cape Town, South Africa. Spirometry, plethysmography, diffusion capacity lung function tests and 6-min walking test (6MWT) were completed according to international guidelines 2 months into treatment and following treatment completion. Abnormal lung function was defined as abnormal spirometry (z-score < -1.64 for forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV 1 ) and/or forced vital capacity (FVC) and/or FEV 1 /FVC), plethysmography (total lung capacity (TLC) < 80% of predicted, residual volume over TLC of >45%) and/or diffusion capacity (DLCO z-score < -1.64)., Findings: One-hundred adolescents were enrolled; 50 (50%) with tuberculosis and 50 (50%) healthy tuberculosis-exposed controls. Of the 50 adolescents with tuberculosis, ten had multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Mean age of the group was 14.9 years (SD 2.7), 6 (6.0%) were living with HIV and 9 (9.0%) were previously treated for tuberculosis. Lung function improved over time; during treatment abnormal lung function was found in 76% of adolescents with tuberculosis, compared to 65% after treatment completion. Spirometry indices were lower in adolescents with tuberculosis compared to controls, both at 2 months and after treatment completion. Plethysmography in adolescents with tuberculosis showed that air-trapping was more common during treatment than in controls (12% vs 0%, respectively, p = 0.017); which improved following treatment completion. Adolescents with tuberculosis both during and after treatment completion walked a shorter distance than controls., Interpretation: Adolescents with tuberculosis have impaired lung function even after treatment completion. It is crucial to include adolescents in trials on the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis-associated respiratory morbidity., Funding: EDCTP, National Institute of Health, Medical Research Council, BMBF., Competing Interests: MMVDZ is supported by a career development grant from the EDCTP2 program supported by the European Union (TMA2019SFP-2836 TB lung-FACT2), the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number K43TW011028. JAS is supported by a Clinician Scientist Fellowship jointly funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) under the MRC/DFID Concordat agreement (MR/R007942/1). BA is supported by a grant for TB Sequel Network from German Federal Ministry for Research and Education (BMBF)., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Approximately 50% of both men and women will experience emotional intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime-a form of violence highly associated with other forms of IPV-making it important to develop further understanding of for assessment and treatment purposes. The bio-psycho-social model was used to guide the study. Utilizing data from 181 studies, yielding 348 effect sizes, we conducted a meta-analysis examining mental and physical health correlates with emotional IPV perpetration and victimization. We also examined if mental and physical health correlates were significantly stronger for emotional IPV perpetration or victimization, as well as if correlates were stronger for men or women. Suicidal ideation, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, borderline personality disorder (PD), psychological distress, physical pain, trauma, anger, shame, poor physical health, antisocial PD, and somatic symptoms were significantly associated with emotional IPV victimization. Borderline PD, narcissism, emotional dysregulation, anger, post-traumatic stress, antisocial PD, psychopathy, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and trauma were significantly associated with emotional IPV perpetration. Anger, emotional dysregulation, and psychopathology were stronger correlates for emotional IPV perpetration compared to victimization, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psychological distress were stronger correlates for victimization. PTSD and suicidal ideation were stronger correlates of IPV victimization for women than men, and anger was a significantly stronger correlate of IPV perpetration for women than men. This study highlights the importance of a holistic approach when working with victims and perpetrators of IPV, focusing on the importance of taking all aspects of the bio-psycho-social model into account., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) incurs significant public health consequences. Understanding risk markers can accelerate prevention and response efforts, important in settings like Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where resources are scarce. In this study, four databases were searched to identify studies that examined risk markers for male-to-female physical IPV. With application of the socioecological model, we analyzed 11 risk markers for male physical IPV perpetration (with 71 effect sizes) and 16 risk markers for female physical IPV victimization (with 131 effect sizes) in SSA from 51 studies. For male IPV perpetration, we found medium-to-large effect sizes for six risk markers: perpetrating emotional abuse and sexual IPV, witnessing parental IPV, being abused as a child, cohabitating (not married), and exhibiting controlling behaviors. We found small effect sizes for substance use. Employment, age, marital status, and education were not significant risk markers. For female IPV victimization, a medium effect size was found for post-traumatic stress symptoms. Small effect sizes were found for reporting depressive symptoms, being abused as a child, witnessing parental IPV, and reporting drug and alcohol use. Rural residence, approval of violence, length of relationship, income, education, employment, age, marital status, and religiosity were not significant risk markers. Findings highlight opportunities for screening and intervention at the couple level, show the need to test and incorporate interventions for IPV in mental health treatment, and emphasize the importance of further research on sociodemographic risk markers and the interventions that target them., Competing Interests: Declarations of Conflicts of InterestThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: Levofloxacin is used for treatment and prevention of rifampicin-resistant (RR)-TB in children. Recent data showed higher exposures with 100 mg dispersible compared with non-dispersible tablet formulations with potentially important dosing implications in children. We aimed to verify and better characterize this finding., Methods: We conducted a crossover pharmacokinetic trial in children aged ≤5 years receiving levofloxacin RR-TB preventive therapy. Pharmacokinetic sampling was done after 15-20 mg/kg doses of levofloxacin with 100 mg dispersible and crushed 250 mg non-dispersible levofloxacin formulations. A population pharmacokinetic model was developed., Results: Twenty-five children were included, median (IQR) weight and age 12.2 (10.7-15.0) kg and 2.56 (1.58-4.03) years, respectively. A two-compartment model with first-order elimination and transit compartment absorption best described levofloxacin pharmacokinetics. Allometric scaling adjusted for body size, and maturation of clearance with age was characterized. Typical clearance in a 12 kg child was estimated at 4.17 L/h. Non-dispersible tablets had 21.5% reduced bioavailability compared with the dispersible formulation, with no significant differences in other absorption parameters.Dosing simulations showed that current recommended dosing for both formulations result in median exposures below adult-equivalent exposures at a 750 mg daily dose, mainly in children >6 months. Higher levofloxacin doses of 16-30 mg/kg for dispersible and 20-38 mg/kg for crushed non-dispersible tablets may be required in children >6 months., Conclusions: The dispersible paediatric levofloxacin formulation has improved bioavailability compared with the crushed non-dispersible adult formulation, but exposures remain below those in adults. We propose optimized age- and weight-based dosing for levofloxacin, which require further evaluation., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.)

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive issue, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been speculated that the prevalence rates of IPV increased. This paper aims to understand how pandemic-specific distress was related to experiencing and perpetrating IPV. Using self-reported survey data from 371 individuals living in the United States, this study used multiple logistic regressions to examine how reports of distress related to working from home, working outside the home, isolation, stay-at-home orders, mask mandates, physical and mental health, finances, interpersonal relationships, taking care of children, and online learning for children, as well as reports of partner conflict regarding COVID-19, were associated with physical, psychological, and sexual IPV perpetration and victimization. Our results indicated that distress related to family relationships, taking care of children, and COVID-19 as a source of conflict were all associated with an increased risk of IPV victimization, while distress related to mask mandates and friendships was associated with a decreased risk. Distress related to physical health, family relationships, taking care of children, and COVID-19 being a source of conflict were associated with an increased risk of IPV perpetration, while distress related to mental health and friendships was associated with a decreased risk. Implications for researchers and clinicians are discussed.

Background: Limited data are available on tuberculosis (TB) recurrence in children. The aim of this study was to explore the burden of and risk factors for recurrent TB treatment in children., Methods: A prospective, observational cohort study of children (0-13 years) presenting with presumptive pulmonary TB in Cape Town, South Africa from March 2012 to March 2017. Recurrent TB was defined as more than 1 episode of TB treatment (microbiologically confirmed and unconfirmed)., Results: Of 620 children enrolled with presumptive pulmonary TB, data of 608 children were reviewed for TB recurrence after exclusions. The median age was 16.7 [interquartile range (IQR) 9.5-33.3] months, 324 (53.3%) were male and 72 (11.8%) children living with HIV (CLHIV). TB was diagnosed in 297 of 608 (48.8%), of whom 26 had previously received TB treatment, giving a prevalence of 8.8% recurrence: 22 (84.6%) had 1 and 4 (15.4%) had 2 prior TB treatment episodes. The median age of children with recurrent TB was 47.5 (IQR: 20.8-82.5) months at the current episode: 19 of 26 (73.1%) were CLHIV, of whom 12 of 19 (63.2%) were on antiretroviral therapy for a median 43.1 months and all 12 for longer than 6 months. None of the 9 children on antiretroviral treatment with available viral load (VL) data were virally suppressed (median VL, 22,983 copies/ml). Three of 26 (11.6%) children had documented microbiologically confirmed TB at 2 episodes. Four children (15.4%) received drug-resistant TB treatment at recurrence., Conclusions: There was a high rate of recurrent treatment for TB in this cohort of young children, with CLHIV at the highest risk., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Competing Interests: ES has received research funding from TB Alliance and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, has received financial compensation from WHO, and is a member of the Data Safety Monitoring Board for the BE-PEOPLE leprosy prevention study. SK has received grants, paid to her institution, from the National Institutes of Health, Unitaid, and CRDF Global and is a Data Safety Monitoring Board member for the DRAMATIC trial. AJG-P has received grants, paid to his institution, from Unitaid and the National Institutes of Health. PH has received research funding, paid to her institution. from TB Alliance and the National Institutes of Health. GH has received financial assistance from the EU (DCI-PANAF/2020/420–028) through the African Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence pilot programme. The content of this Comment is the sole responsibility of the authors and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the EU, the African Academy of Sciences, or the African Union Commission. The content of this Comment is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health. All other authors declare no competing interests.

Diagnostic tools for paediatric tuberculosis remain limited, with heavy reliance on clinical algorithms which include chest x-ray. Computer aided detection (CAD) for tuberculosis on chest x-ray has shown promise in adults. We aimed to measure and optimise the performance of an adult CAD system, CAD4TB, to identify tuberculosis on chest x-rays from children with presumptive tuberculosis. Chest x-rays from 620 children <13 years enrolled in a prospective observational diagnostic study in South Africa, were evaluated. All chest x-rays were read by a panel of expert readers who attributed each with a radiological reference of either 'tuberculosis' or 'not tuberculosis'. Of the 525 chest x-rays included in this analysis, 80 (40 with a reference of 'tuberculosis' and 40 with 'not tuberculosis') were allocated to an independent test set. The remainder made up the training set. The performance of CAD4TB to identify 'tuberculosis' versus 'not tuberculosis' on chest x-ray against the radiological reference read was calculated. The CAD4TB software was then fine-tuned using the paediatric training set. We compared the performance of the fine-tuned model to the original model. Our findings were that the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of the original CAD4TB model, prior to fine-tuning, was 0.58. After fine-tuning there was an improvement in the AUC to 0.72 (p = 0.0016). In this first-ever description of the use of CAD to identify tuberculosis on chest x-ray in children, we demonstrate a significant improvement in the performance of CAD4TB after fine-tuning with a set of well-characterised paediatric chest x-rays. CAD has the potential to be a useful additional diagnostic tool for paediatric tuberculosis. We recommend replicating the methods we describe using a larger chest x-ray dataset from a more diverse population and evaluating the potential role of CAD to replace a human-read chest x-ray within treatment-decision algorithms for paediatric tuberculosis., Competing Interests: Jaime Melendez is a developer of the CAD4TB software at Delft Imaging., (Copyright: © 2023 Palmer et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Many children with pulmonary tuberculosis remain undiagnosed and untreated with related high morbidity and mortality. Recent advances in childhood tuberculosis algorithm development have incorporated prediction modelling, but studies so far have been small and localised, with limited generalisability. We aimed to evaluate the performance of currently used diagnostic algorithms and to use prediction modelling to develop evidence-based algorithms to assist in tuberculosis treatment decision making for children presenting to primary health-care centres., Methods: For this meta-analysis, we identified individual participant data from a WHO public call for data on the management of tuberculosis in children and adolescents and referral from childhood tuberculosis experts. We included studies that prospectively recruited consecutive participants younger than 10 years attending health-care centres in countries with a high tuberculosis incidence for clinical evaluation of pulmonary tuberculosis. We collated individual participant data including clinical, bacteriological, and radiological information and a standardised reference classification of pulmonary tuberculosis. Using this dataset, we first retrospectively evaluated the performance of several existing treatment-decision algorithms. We then used the data to develop two multivariable prediction models that included features used in clinical evaluation of pulmonary tuberculosis-one with chest x-ray features and one without-and we investigated each model's generalisability using internal-external cross-validation. The parameter coefficient estimates of the two models were scaled into two scoring systems to classify tuberculosis with a prespecified sensitivity target. The two scoring systems were used to develop two pragmatic, treatment-decision algorithms for use in primary health-care settings., Findings: Of 4718 children from 13 studies from 12 countries, 1811 (38·4%) were classified as having pulmonary tuberculosis: 541 (29·9%) bacteriologically confirmed and 1270 (70·1%) unconfirmed. Existing treatment-decision algorithms had highly variable diagnostic performance. The scoring system derived from the prediction model that included clinical features and features from chest x-ray had a combined sensitivity of 0·86 [95% CI 0·68-0·94] and specificity of 0·37 [0·15-0·66] against a composite reference standard. The scoring system derived from the model that included only clinical features had a combined sensitivity of 0·84 [95% CI 0·66-0·93] and specificity of 0·30 [0·13-0·56] against a composite reference standard. The scoring system from each model was placed after triage steps, including assessment of illness acuity and risk of poor tuberculosis-related outcomes, to develop treatment-decision algorithms., Interpretation: We adopted an evidence-based approach to develop pragmatic algorithms to guide tuberculosis treatment decisions in children, irrespective of the resources locally available. This approach will empower health workers in primary health-care settings with high tuberculosis incidence and limited resources to initiate tuberculosis treatment in children to improve access to care and reduce tuberculosis-related mortality. These algorithms have been included in the operational handbook accompanying the latest WHO guidelines on the management of tuberculosis in children and adolescents. Future prospective evaluation of algorithms, including those developed in this work, is necessary to investigate clinical performance., Funding: WHO, US National Institutes of Health., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests We declare no competing interests., (© 2023 World Health Organization. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This is an Open Access article published under the CC BY 3.0 IGO license which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In any use of this article, there should be no suggestion that WHO endorses any specific organisation, products or services. The use of the WHO logo is not permitted. This notice should be preserved along with the article's original URL.)

Background: Violence directed at healthcare workers (HCWs) is common and may be more frequent in the emergency department (ED). In addition to physical injury, other consequences of workplace violence in the ED include an increased risk of burnout, post-traumatic stress disorder, reduced job satisfaction, and feelings of avoidance and futility. Understanding behaviors underlying workplace violence is the first step to employing mitigation strategies. The objective of this descriptive study was to assess the prevalence and types of violence against HCWs in a large, urban ED., Methods: This study took place in the ED of an urban hospital with an annual ED census of approximately 100,000. A previously existing general patient safety incident "dropbox" for HCWs was utilized to capture workplace violence reports. At the completion of the study period, all data was collated into the electronic database and each report was categorized based on the nature and severity of the abuse. Further, all events were also coded as either involving or not involving specifically racist, sexist, or homophobic content. The primary outcomes were the number of reported events over the study period, and the percentage of total events that fell into each category. The secondary outcomes were the overall prevalence and ratio of events that included racist, sexist, or homophobic language or provocation., Results: Over the 5-month survey period, 130 reports of workplace violence were recorded, on average 0.85 per day. Perpetrators were mostly male, and most victims were nurses. Hospital security was involved in 26% of cases. At least 37% of incidents involved patients that were intoxicated and/or had history of psychiatric illness. Type I events (swearing provocatively, shouting, and legal threats) were the most common at 44% of encounters while 22% involved physical violence. Racist, sexist, and homophobic comments were involved in 8 (6%), 18 (14%), and 3 (2%) incidents respectively., Conclusion: We found that workplace violence against HCWs was common in this study, and sometimes involved a component of racist, sexist, or homophobic bias. Consistent with previous ED literature, we found that abusive events occurred almost daily and that approximately 20% of events involved physical violence. Future efforts toward policy change to address workplace violence in health care is needed at local, state, and national levels., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors do not have any declarations of interest or conflicts of interest to report., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Emotional intimate partner violence (IPV) is the most common form of IPV and frequently co-occurs with other forms of IPV. Risk factors of IPV can give insight to potential pathways and consequences associated with IPV, enhancing treatment efforts. This meta-analysis examined relationship dynamics associated with IPV perpetration and victimization. Our study found victimization of controlling behavior, demand/withdrawal relationship pattern, perpetration of controlling behavior, jealousy, relationship distress, perpetrator's power in the relationship, anxious attachment, and traditional gender roles were all significantly associated with IPV perpetration. For IPV victimization, victimization of controlling behaviors, fear of the perpetrator, relationship distress, anxious and avoidant attachment, and traditional gender roles were all found to be significantly associated. Relationship satisfaction was found to be negatively associated with emotional IPV perpetration and victimization. Implications for clinicians are discussed., (© 2023 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.)

Purpose of Review: The current review identifies recent advances in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of childhood tuberculosis (TB) with a focus on the WHO's updated TB management guidelines released in 2022., Recent Findings: The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected global TB control due to the diversion of healthcare resources and decreased patient care-seeking behaviour. Despite this, key advances in childhood TB management have continued. The WHO now recommends shorter rifamycin-based regimens for TB preventive treatment as well as shorter regimens for the treatment of both drug-susceptible and drug-resistant TB. The Xpert Ultra assay is now recommended as the initial diagnostic test for TB in children with presumed TB and can also be used on stool samples. Point-of-care urinary lipoarabinomannan assays are promising as 'rule-in' tests for children with presumed TB living with HIV. Treatment decision algorithms can be used to diagnose TB in symptomatic children in settings with and without access to chest X-rays; bacteriological confirmation should always be attempted., Summary: Recent guideline updates are a key milestone in the management of childhood TB, and the paediatric TB community should now prioritize their efficient implementation in high TB burden countries while generating evidence to close current evidence gaps., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)