BMC Research Notes最新文献

Background: Tuberculosis remains a major public health challenge in Somalia, where a fragile health system and reliance on private providers complicate care. Although Public-Private Partnerships are globally recognized for strengthening TB services, their role and implementation in Somalia's conflict-affected context are not well understood. This study aimed to explore the role, challenges, and opportunities of Public-Private Partnerships in delivering TB services in Somalia, generating evidence to inform policy and practice.

Methods: A qualitative exploratory study was conducted in urban and peri-urban areas of Somalia, using in-depth interviews (18) and focus group discussions (4) with purposively selected stakeholders, including Ministry of Health officials, private providers, NGO representatives, and TB patients. Data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed thematically using NVivo software.

Results: Partnerships in Somali TB care are largely informal and shaped by local relationships, NGOs, and donor initiatives, with weak governance, insecurity, limited infrastructure, and inconsistent monitoring posing major barriers. Despite these challenges, leveraging the private sector, mobile diagnostics, community health workers, and digital tools offers opportunities to improve case detection, treatment adherence, and data quality. Patients often face complex and costly care pathways, with perceived partnership effectiveness tied to accessibility, continuity, and reduced financial burden.

Conclusion: Public-Private Partnerships in Somali TB care are fragmented and informal, providing some benefits but falling short of addressing the national TB burden. Establishing a national framework, clear guidelines, and robust data-sharing mechanisms is essential to develop context-specific PPP models that can strengthen TB service delivery in fragile and conflict-affected settings.

Objectives: DNA methylation (DNAm) can change dynamically in response to intrinsic or external exposures. Characteristic methylation profiles are associated with accelerated biological ageing and poorer health outcomes. CpG methylation levels for individuals within the Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Ageing (NICOLA) were previously generated from baseline blood-derived DNA typed on the Infinium MethylationEPIC array. Harnessing this methylation data, epigenetic clock measures were determined, adjusting for chronological age and white blood cell count (CD8T, CD4T, Natural killer, B-cell, Monocytes and Granulocytes).

Data description: The NICOLA study was designed to be representative of the Northern Ireland population at Wave 1 and involved the recruitment of 8,283 people from across Northern Ireland. Participants over the age of 50 were recruited. Other household members (spouses/partners) were allowed to take part, even if they were under the age of 50. 2.3% of participants were under the age of 50. Around 50% of participants were aged between 50 and 65, and 10% of participants were over the age of 80 years. This dataset includes epigenetic clock measures for a subset of 1,870 (48% male) participants within the NICOLA cohort, with a mean age of 64.1 ± 9.37 years. The following 10 epigenetic clocks were generated: (± PC)PhenoAge, (± PC)GrimAge, (± PC)Horvath1, (± PC)Hannum, PCDNAmTL and DunedinPACE. ±PC represents the presence or absence of principal component adjustment. This document describes NICOLA's epigenetic clock dataset, which is ~ 2.5Gb in size.

Objective: Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is used to treat knee osteoarthritis and cartilage injuries, but its effects on healthy joint tissues are unclear. This exploratory study compared histological responses to allogeneic leukocyte-rich (LR) and leukocyte-poor (LP) PRP versus saline in healthy rabbit knees.

Results: Eighteen knees from nine healthy male Japanese white rabbits received a single intra-articular injection of saline, LR-PRP (Vets), or LP-PRP (Cellaid) (n = 6 knees/group). At 4 weeks, trochlear cartilage and suprapatellar pouch synovium were evaluated by hematoxylin-eosin histology. Chondrocyte nuclei were counted in a predefined cartilage region (0.538 cm²) and synovitis scored using the OARSI rabbit system (0-11). PRP composition was not quantitatively characterized; LR/LP labels were kit-based. Mean chondrocyte counts were 345 ± 100, 365 ± 70, and 394 ± 23 nuclei/0.538 cm², and mean synovial lesion scores were 2.67 ± 1.21, 2.50 ± 1.52, and 2.17 ± 0.41 in the saline, LR-PRP, and LP-PRP groups, respectively. In mixed-effects models accounting for within-rabbit correlation, no contrast remained statistically significant after Holm adjustment. Mild synovial changes were observed in all groups.