Geographical Department Research Articles

Sexual Victimization and Sexually Transmitted Infections Among a Nationally Representative Sample of Adolescents and Young Adults in Haiti.

Sexual assault victims are at major risk of being infected by sexually transmitted infections (STI). This article aims to examine and compare the prevalence of eight STIs (e.g., chlamydia, gonorrhea, hepatitis B, HIV/AIDS, human papillomavirus) among victims and non-victims of sexual abuse. A national cross-sectional study was conducted in Haiti, using a multistage sampling frame, stratified by geographical department, urban or rural setting, gender, and age groups (15-19 and 20-24years). The final sample included 3586 household participants (47.6% female). A weighted sample of 3945 individuals was obtained and used in the following analyses. Overall, 21.75% (95% CI 19.91-23.59) of participants reported having been diagnosed with at least one STI in their lifetime, with a higher prevalence among men (25.70%; 95% CI 22.89-28.52), compared to women (18.11%; 95% CI 15.73-20.49), χ2 = 16.43; p < 0.001). Sexual abuse victims were more likely to report STIs (31.27%; 95% CI 29.21-33.34), compared to non-victims (18.40%; 95% CI 16.68-20.13), χ2 = 27.89; p < .001. Sexual abuse was associated to an increased risk of contracting at least one STI (OR = 1.74; 95% CI 1.35, 2.24). The results demonstrate that sexual abuse is associated with a general increase of reporting STIs. They indicate the need for national sexual abuse prevention programs at early ages. These programs should be implemented in schools and churches, focusing on the role of families in sexuality education. Finally, programs must be developed to eradicate community violence-especially in the cities-as increased political and social violence has always been associated with increased sexual abuse in Haiti.

Modeling the current and future habitat suitability of Neltuma pallida in the dry forest of northern Peru under climate change scenarios to 2100.

The development of anthropic activities and climate change effects impact worldwide species' ecosystems and habitats. Habitats' adequate prediction can be an important tool to assess current and future trends. In addition, it allows strategies development for their conservation. The Neltuma pallida of the forest region in northern Peru, although very significant, has experienced a decline in recent years. The objective of this research is to evaluate the current and future distribution and conservation status of N. pallida in the Peruvian dry forest under climate change (Location: Republic of Peru). A total of 132 forest presence records and 10 variables (bioclimatic, topographic, and soil) were processed and selected to obtain the current and future distribution for 2100, using Google Earth Engine (GEE), RStudio, and MaxEnt. The area under the curve values fell within the range of 0.93-0.95, demonstrating a strong predictive capability for both present and future potential habitats. The findings indicated that the likely range of habitats for N. pallida was shaped by factors such as the average temperature of wettest quarter, maximum temperature of warmest month, elevation, rainfall, and precipitation of driest month. The main suitable areas were in the central regions of the geographical departments of Tumbes, Piura, and Lambayeque, as well as in the northern part of La Libertad. It is critical to determine the habitat suitability of plant species for conservation managers since this information stimulates the development of policies that favor sustainable use programs. In addition, these results can contribute significantly to identify new areas for designing strategies for populations conserving and recovering with an ecological restoration approach.

Genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms reveal the genetic diversity and population structure of Creole goats from northern Peru

Goat farming constitutes a significant source of income for farmers in northern Peru. There is currently an absence of information about the genetics of Peruvian Creole goats that would enable us to understand their origins and genetic spread. The objective of this study was to estimate the genetic diversity of Creole goats from northern Peru using SNP markers. This study involved the collection of 192 male Creole goats from three key goat production geographical departments in northern Peru. These goat samples were genotyped using the GGPGoat70k SNP panel. To explore the genetic influence of other breeds on Peruvian Creole goats, our dataset was combined with previously published SNP genotypes. External data set includes multiple breeds genotypes sampled from Argentina, Brazil, Spain, and Alpine breed from Italy, France, and Switzerland. After quality control 52,832 autosomal SNPs were used to assess genetic diversity in the Peruvian goats. For the population structure analysis of the merged data 20,513 common SNPs were used. Estimations for expected heterozygosity (He), observed heterozygosity (Ho), and inbreeding coefficient (FIS) were computed for the Peruvian groups. AMOVA, principal component analysis and ADMIXTURE were conducted to evaluate the population structure in the two data sets, Peru and merged. The results revealed a considerable genetic diversity, with Ho values ranging from 0.40 to 0.41 for the Peruvian sampling groups, and inbreeding coefficient was notably low for Peruvian goat. The population structure analysis demonstrated a distinction (p < 0.05) from other breeds. These findings suggest a level of genetic differentiation of the Peruvian goat population among other breeds, although further research is needed considering samples from other Peruvian areas. We expect this study will contribute to define genetic management strategies to prevent the loss of genetic diversity in Peruvian goat populations and for upcoming advancements in this field.

СТАНОВЛЕНИЕ И РАЗВИТИЕ ЭТНОГРАФИЧЕСКИХ И АНТРОПОЛОГИЧЕСКИХ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ В ОРДЕНА ЗНАК ПОЧЕТА ИНСТИТУТЕ ИСТОРИИ, ЯЗЫКА И ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ УФИМСКОГО ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОГО ИССЛЕДОВАТЕЛЬСКОГО ЦЕНТРА РАН

The history of complex ethnological research in the Republic of Bashkortostan dates back to the establishment of the Society for the Study of Everyday Life, Culture, and History of Bashkiria, under the leadership of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic People’s Commissariat. In 1922, an ethnographic and geographical department was created within this organization. In 1929, the society had already had seven departments, including a dedicated ethnographic department, as well as an independent anthropological section, which had been formed in 1928. In 1930, the Bashkir Comprehensive Research Institute was established on the basis of the Academic Center. In 1932, the Bashkir Scientific Research Institute of National Culture was separated from it. After the formation of the Bashkir branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1951, one of its first divisions was the Bashkir Scientific Research Institute of History, Language, and Literature. Ethnographic research continued to be actively conducted in the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and adjacent territories with a densely populated Bashkir population. The history of the Ethnology Department of the Institute is closely linked to the name of Academician R.G. Kuzeev (1929–2005). He was a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and an Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Bashkortostan. In 1955, he completed postgraduate studies at the Miklukho-Maklay Institute in Moscow and defended his PhD thesis. After that, he headed the historical department at the Institute. With the arrival of Kuzeev, there was a renewed focus on the study of ethnographic issues and the history of the origins of the Bashkir people. Based on both published and unpublished sources, this article highlights the work of the Ethnology Department at the Order of the Badge of Honor Institute of History, Language, and Literature at the Ufa Federal Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It examines the main achievements and future prospects of this department’s research.

Current situation and needs analysis of medical staff first aid ability in China: a cross-sectional study

ObjectivesWe aim to understand the current situation of the first aid ability and training needs of Chinese medical personnel to provide a scientific basis for formulating the contents and methods of emergency medical rescue training and thereby improve the first aid level of Chinese medical personnel.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted between June 2022 and February 2023 using a two-stage cluster sampling method with a structured questionnaire sent to medical workers in 12 provinces in China. 14,527 questionnaires were included in this study. Data were collected on demographic characteristics, first aid knowledge and skills, and training needs. Variance analysis was used to compare the difference between the first aid ability and training needs of medical staff in different hospitals, and multiple linear regression analysis was carried out to evaluate first aid ability and training needs.ResultThe study included 6041 patients (41.6%) in tertiary hospitals, 5838 patients (40.2%) in secondary hospitals, and 2648 patients (18.2%) in primary hospitals. There were significant differences in the first aid ability and training needs of medical staff in hospitals of different levels (p < 0.001). The score of first aid knowledge and skills in tertiary hospitals was the highest (209.7 ± 45.0), and the score of training needs in primary hospitals was the highest (240.6 ± 44.0). There was a significant correlation between first aid ability and training needs score (p < 0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis shows that geographic region, age, work tenure, gender, job title, department, professional title, monthly income, and hospital level are the influencing factors of training demand.ConclusionMedical staff in primary hospitals generally have low first aid knowledge and skills and a strong willingness to train. Therefore, it is imperative to strengthen the training of first aid ability and research training strategies. The level of the hospital is closely related to the level of first aid, so it is necessary to recognize the commonalities and differences in medical staff’s demand for first aid knowledge and skills and carry out targeted education and training.

Socio-economic factors associated with open defecation among agricultural households: a cross-sectional study in Haiti

BackgroundOpen defecation (OD) is recognised as an important public health challenge in low-income and middle-income countries. Although agriculture is the main occupation in these countries, few if any study on...

DZ-SMS: An Authentic Corpus of Algerian SMS

In this article, a complete methodology of a corpus realization of authentic Short Message Service (SMS) from Algerian dialect and which are transcribed in Latin characters or symbols is presented. A linguistic material constituted by 6,000 SMS coming from the different geographical regions of Algeria (Middle, East, and West) corresponding to 42 administrative and geographical departments, have been collected. The coexistence of several dialects through these three regions simultaneously has obliged us to consider and operate a classification of the data for each dialect. This data classification has yielded three extracted regional dialectic corpora, each of them covering a specific number of administrative departments. These treatments are based on the so-called Data-n-gram tokenization targeting the suppression of the stop words, the stemming and the imbalance of the classes linked to the nature of the SMS. Consequently, three text classifiers based on three linear classifiers, namely, Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD), The Ridge Regression (RDG), and Linear Support Vector Machines, to find out the number of significant corpora to extract from the collected data. A deep analysis of the results has shown that the 5-grams data representation is more representative whereas the stop-words removal and stemming process has generated an information loss that has subsequently inferred an alteration of the recognition rate of about 2%. The emerging problem of classes imbalance has been treated by using three techniques: Random Oversampling, Synthetic Minorities Oversampling Technique (SMOTE), and Adaptive Synthetic (ADASYN). This treatment produced interesting results and enhancements; particularly, the classification by region with the oversampling process SMOTE by using the RDG technique has reached a better percentage of 55.93% whereas the classification by department with the oversampling process ADASYN associated with the SGD has only yielded a maximum score of about 17.11%. The results, which undoubtedly are in favor of the classification by region, have compelled us to create three Subdialectal regional corpora, each, covering a certain number of Algerian departments.

FairFed: Enabling Group Fairness in Federated Learning

Training ML models which are fair across different demographic groups is of critical importance due to the increased integration of ML in crucial decision-making scenarios such as healthcare and recruitment. Federated learning has been viewed as a promising solution for collaboratively training machine learning models among multiple parties while maintaining their local data privacy. However, federated learning also poses new challenges in mitigating the potential bias against certain populations (e.g., demographic groups), as this typically requires centralized access to the sensitive information (e.g., race, gender) of each datapoint. Motivated by the importance and challenges of group fairness in federated learning, in this work, we propose FairFed, a novel algorithm for fairness-aware aggregation to enhance group fairness in federated learning. Our proposed approach is server-side and agnostic to the applied local debiasing thus allowing for flexible use of different local debiasing methods across clients. We evaluate FairFed empirically versus common baselines for fair ML and federated learning and demonstrate that it provides fairer models, particularly under highly heterogeneous data distributions across clients. We also demonstrate the benefits of FairFed in scenarios involving naturally distributed real-life data collected from different geographical locations or departments within an organization.

The practical significance of the mineralogical and petrographic collections in the Geological and Geographical Department of the Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University Natural Museum

The Geological and Geographical Department of the Natural Museum of the Yuriy Fedkovich Chernivtsi National University preserves reference minerals and rocks. It is one of the oldest university museums in Ukraine. Educational, scientific and research work using exposition and stock collections are the key aspects of the museum’s activity. The mineralogical and petrographic collection consists of about 13,000 exhibits. Each mineral and rock are represented by several samples from different deposits and regions to provide in-depth study and development of mineralogical and petrographic knowledge. During the practical course, students learn to combine theoretical and practical knowledge, to distinguish and work with the main real samples of rocks and, to classify minerals according to their physical properties; to distinguish rocks by structural and textural features, and to determine the conditions of their formation. Systematized collections of minerals and rock samples, kept in showcases and funds as well as relevant exhibits of the educational collection, are used in the educational courses in the Geological and Geographical department of the Museum. Basic tools such as glass, porcelain, reference minerals, 10% hydrochloric acid solution, magnifying glass, mining compass, matches etc. for diagnosing samples are provided. Special attention should be paid to safety measures when students work with samples, as well as additional tools for diagnostics. The safety issues refer careful handling of hydrochloric acid solution, cutting and pricking objects. Educational diagnostics of minerals starts with determining the most characteristic optical properties, as they can be established immediately. At the next stage, the mineral hardness according to the Mohs scale standards or by additional improvised tools is determined. The next stage involves determining the nature of the fracture and cleavage. Then carbonates are checked for the reaction of the sample with a solution of hydrochloric acid. Finally, based on the established signs and with the help of determinants, the conclusion about the mineral name and its reference to a certain class is made by students. The answer can be supplemented with information about the origin and forms of mineral occurrence in nature and the field of use. The examination and diagnostics of rocks is carried out according to the certan plan. First, the appearance of the rock sample is carefully examined with the naked eye and with the help of a magnifying glass. The colour, structural and textural features are determined. Acidity or basicity is established for igneous rocks. In the case of sedimentary rocks, the reaction to the action of hydrochloric acid, the size and nature of inclusions, the nature of cement are inspected. All the determined signs and properties of the samples are recorded in the laboratory work journals. With the help of identifiers, the name of the rock is established and the description is supplemented with the engineering and geological characteristics and fields of use. Based on the examination of the exhibition samples and the funds of the Geological and Geographical Department of the Natural Museum, students get fundamental knowledge about the geography and distribution of world minerals, rocks, and mineral resources. They acquire the skills of independent work with museum collections. The skills can be successfully applied in the scientific and applied institutions in the field, oil production enterprises, geological exploration organizations, etc.

Regional income convergence in Colombia: population, space, and long-run dynamics

We examine the trajectory of regional income dynamics in Colombia. Using data on all 33 Colombian departments from 2000 to 2016, we employ extensions of (spatial) Markov chains, space-time mobility measures, along with a fully weighted version of the distribution analysis approach. By considering these extensions, our analysis enables us to answer questions such as whether the role of spatial context influences the distributional dynamics of Colombian departments, or the magnitude of the moderating effect of department’s population. The inclusion of additional measures such as the asymptotic half-life of convergence provides additional results, informing on how long it would take to reach the hypothetical long-run distribution of per capita income. Results, which are reported for both pre- and post-2008 trends, complement previous literature on regional economic convergence in a relevant South American context, showing stronger convergence patterns when controlling for the population living in each department. The patterns do not particularly intensify when controlling for spatial spillovers, since the role of spatial context was already playing a relevant role from the beginning of the period analyzed. Therefore, although the ergodic distributions show a conditional-convergence pattern, addressing the problems of spatial exclusion fully, persistent polarization among geographical departments and populations, along with the relevant core-periphery gaps, still requires the design and implementation of specific policies.

Lifetime and Child Sexual Violence, Risk Factors and Mental Health Correlates Among a Nationally Representative Sample of Adolescents and Young Adults in Haiti: A Public Health Emergency.

Very little is known in Haiti and the Caribbean regarding child and lifetime sexual victimization. Using a nationally representative sample of adolescents and young adults aged 15-24, this study aimed to document the prevalence, risk factors and mental health correlates of lifetime and child sexual violence in Haiti. A national cross-sectional surrvey was conducted in Haiti, using a multistage sampling frame, stratified by geographical department, urban or rural setting, gender, and age groups (15-19 and 20-24years). The final sample included 3586 household participants (47.6% female). A weighted sample of 3945 individuals was obtained and used in the following analyses. Overall rate of lifetime and child sexual violence was, respectively, 27.44% (95% CI 25.94-28.94) and 11.27% (95% CI 10.18-12.35). Lifetime sexual violence rate was significantly higher among female participants (29.02%; 95% CI 27.5-30.55) compared to male (25.73%, 95% CI 24.26-27.2), χ2 = 4.63, p < .05, but there was no significant gender difference for child sexual victimization. Experiences of family physical violence, emotional abuse by mother and father, divorce of parents, and other physical violence were strongly associated with higher odds of sexual victimization. Participants who reported having experienced sexual violence are more at risk to meet criteria of PTSD (OR = 1.96, 95% CI 1.66-2.32; p < .0001), depression (OR = 1.73, 95% CI 1.47-2.02; p < .0001), psychological distress (OR =1.72, 95% CI 1.47-2.02; p < .0001), and substance abuse (OR = 1.33, 95% CI 1.13-1.57; p < .0001). Findings demonstrate that sexual violence is a public health emergency in Haiti. They provide evidence for the development of prevention and intervention programs.

Prevalence and factors related to dating violence victimization and perpetration among a representative sample of adolescents and young adults in Haiti

BackgroundStudies examining both victimization and perpetration of dating violence among both women and men are virtually non-existent in Haiti. This study aimed to document the prevalence and factors associated with victimization and perpetration of dating violence (DV) among adolescents and young adults aged 15–24 years in Haiti. Participants and settingA total of 3586 participants (47.6% women; mean age = 19.37; SD = 2.71) were sampled in the 10 geographical departments according to residence areas (urban/rural), age group (15–19/20–24 years old), and gender (men/women). MethodParticipants completed questionnaires assessing DV victimization and perpetration, witnessing interparental violence, parental violence, violence acceptance, social desirability, and self-esteem. ResultsOverall, 1538 participants (56% women) were in a romantic relationship in the past year. Results showed that men were more likely to experience both psychological (49.4% of women and 57% of men, X2 = 8.17, p = .004), and physical violence (11.1% of women and 18.8% of men, X2 = 8.13, p = .004). There were marginally significant differences for sexual violence between gender for adolescents aged 15 to 19 (26.5% of girls and 20.5% of boys, X2 = 3.25, p = .07), and not for young adults (21.8% of women and 24.0% of men, X2 = 0.49, p = .48). No significant difference was observed for any forms of DV perpetration. DV perpetration was positively associated with victimization (b = 0.5, p = .002), however victimization was not associated with perpetration. Results also showed different associations between violence perpetration and victimization, gender, social desirability, acceptance of violence, parental violence, and witnessing interparental violence. ConclusionsThis study highlights avenues for prevention and intervention that must begin at an early age, engage teachers, train peer-educators, promote healthy, non-violent and egalitarian romantic relationships.

Timely initiation of HIV antiretroviral therapy in Haiti 2004-2018: a retrospective cohort study.

ABSTRACTObjective.To describe trends in timing of ART initiation for newly diagnosed people living with HIV before and after Haiti adopted its Test and Start policy for universal HIV antiretroviral therapy (ART) in July 2016, and to explore predictors of timely ART initiation for both newly and previously diagnosed people living with HIV following Test and Start adoption.Methods.This retrospective cohort study explored timing of ART initiation among 147 900 patients diagnosed with HIV at 94 ART clinics in 2004–2018 using secondary electronic medical record data. The study used survival analysis methods to assess time trends and risk factors for ART initiation.Results.Timely uptake of ART expanded with Test and Start, such that same-day ART initiation rates increased from 3.7% to 45.0%. However, only 11.0% of previously diagnosed patients initiated ART after Test and Start. In adjusted analyses among newly diagnosed people living with HIV, factors negatively associated with timely ART initiation included being a pediatric patient aged 0–14 years (HR = 0.23, p < 0.001), being male (HR = 0.92, p = 0.03), being 50+ years (HR = 0.87, p = 0.03), being underweight (HR = 0.79, p < 0.001), and having WHO stage 3 (HR = 0.73, p < 0.001) or stage 4 disease (HR = 0.49, p < 0.001). Variation in timely ART initiation by geographic department and health facility was observed.Conclusions.Haiti has made substantial progress in scaling up Test and Start, but further work is needed to enroll previously diagnosed patients and to ensure rapid ART in key patient subgroups. Further research is needed on facility and geographic factors and on strategies for improving timely ART initiation among vulnerable subgroups.

Canine Leishmaniosis in Greece: An Updated Countrywide Serological Study and Associated Risk Factors.

Canine leishmaniosis (Leishmania infantum) is a zoonotic disease that affects dogs worldwide. Greece is enzootic for this disease, and updated data for its current distribution are of major importance. The aim of this cross-sectional serological study was primarily to update the current knowledge of Leishmania infantum seropositivity status within the asymptomatic Greek canine population and, furthermore, to assess the possible climatological and other risk factors. In total, sera of 1265 asymptomatic dogs were collected from all prefectures of the country. A questionnaire that included all individual dog information was completed for all animals. The Speed Leish K® canine Leishmania antibody test kit (BVT Groupe Virbac, France) was employed. Potential risk factors were evaluated utilizing logistic regression models. Overall, 13.8% (n = 175) of the sampled dogs were seropositive to Leishmania infantum originating from all geographical departments of the country, whereas most prefectures had at least one seropositive animal. Outdoor living, high mean humidity, low mean wind speed and high total annual rainfall were found to increase the seropositivity status against the parasite. Conclusively, Leishmania infantum remains a common parasite challenge in the asymptomatic canine population of Greece, and therefore, its early diagnosis and effective prevention are significant in the country.

Burden and magnitude of risk in HIV/AIDS in the Colombian health system: a real-world data approach

Aim: To assess the epidemiological situation of people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) in the municipalities and regions of Colombia in 2018. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with secondary data from the High-Cost Diseases Fund from February 1st, 2018 to January 31st, 2019. We included sociodemographic, clinical variables, and related to geographic location. We calculated incidence, prevalence, and mortality according to the Colombian geographical regions, department and municipality of residence. Crude and age-standardized rates were estimated. Results: By 2018, 10,930 new cases of PLWHA were reported, being more frequent in males, aged between 25 to 49 years. 39.32% were reported with AIDS and 35.27% had undetectable HIV viral load. During 2018, there are 109,056 PLWHA in Colombia. The highest age-standardized incidence and prevalence were reported in Florencia (Cauca) (354.28 per 100,000 and 3.32 per 100people, respectively). The age-standardized incidence rate was 22.12 per 100,000 population (95% CI 21.71- 22.54). Age-standardized prevalence and mortality were 0.23 per 100 population (95% CI 0.22-0.23) and 3.78 per 100,000 population (95% CI 3.61-3.96), respectively. Conclusion: Different strategies should be implemented to improve the identification of risk factors in the population, especially in some regions of Colombia and prevent transmission.

Leishmaniasis in the Colombian post-conflict era: a descriptive study from 2004 to 2019.

INTRODUCTION: Leishmaniasis is strongly associated with armed conflict. We describe the epidemiology of leishmaniasis before and after the peace agreement in Colombia. METHODS: Data for 2004-2019 period were collected from the National Public Health Surveillance System. The annual incidence per geographical department before and after the peace agreement was calculated and correlated with armed conflict severity. RESULTS: The annual incidence of leishmaniasis registered a downfall with an annual percentage change of 17.7% after the peace treaty. CONCLUSIONS: A decrease in hostilities has a positive impact on the leishmaniasis incidence, which may be the case for other public health issues.

Mortality from anti-personnel mines before and during the Colombian peace process

Introduction: Although the peace process in Colombia resulted in a significant reduction in the number of anti-personnel mines across the country, there are no reliable data on the effects of this phenomenon on outcomes for patients who were victims of these devices.&#x0D; Objective: The objective of this study was to assess mortality from landmine injuries before and during the Colombian peace process. Furthermore possible associations between peace negotiations and mortality were explored.&#x0D; Methods: For this study, we used the "Colombian Victims of Antipersonnel Mines Injuries registry" (MAP/MUSE database) data from 2002 to 2018. This registry was launched in 2001 by the government of Colombia with the aim of prospectively and systematically collect information on all the cases of anti-personnel mine injuries in the country. The period between 2002-2012 was classified as the pre-negotiation period (war period), and 2014-2018 as the peace negotiations period, with 2013 classified as a washout year. Multivariate logistic regression was used to explore the association between peace negotiations and mortality among anti-personnel landmine injured individuals.&#x0D; Results: A total of 10306 landmine injury cases were registered. Of these, 1180 (11.4%) occurred in the peace-negotiation period. Mortality was significantly lower during the period of peace negotiations. After adjusting for sex, age group, race, active duty soldier status, rural area, and geographic departments case volumes, the peace negotiation period was found to be associated with lower risk-adjusted odds of mortality after suffering a landmine injury (OR= 0.6, 95% CI, 0.5-0.7; p&lt;0.001).&#x0D; Conclusion: Our findings suggest an association between the period of peace negotiation and a lower likelihood of mortality among victims of anti-personnel landmines.

PP445 Mapping The Trend Of The Da Vinci Surgical System Use In China

IntroductionA robotically assisted surgical system, the da Vinci surgical system (DVSS), is a sophisticated surgical platform equipped with immersive 3D visualization and dexterous articulating endoscopic instruments. Surgeons can intuitively control the surgical system to perform delicate surgical tasks. Robotic surgery has gained popularity globally ever since its birth and was approved to market by the China Food and Drug Administration in 2006. This study aims to map the current use of DVSSs in mainland China and the trends from 2009 to 2019.MethodsA full-sample survey of all hospitals equipped with DVSSs was conducted in mainland China, collecting data on hospitals and surgical departments using DVSSs, operation volume, and time of installation. Disease classification was standardized to obtain DVSS use in each department. EXCEL software was used for logging and cleaning the data. The analysis focused on descriptive analysis to map trends of DVSS use in China and present geographical and department distribution.ResultsThe DVSSs installed have grown from seven in 2009 to 135 in 2019. By the end of 2019, twenty-eight provinces in China have been equipped with the DVSSs, among which eighty-seven in the eastern regions, twenty-seven in the central regions, and twenty-one in the western regions. The annual volume of operations grew from 339 in 2009 to 38,991 in 2019, at an annual rate of 60.7 percent. The average workload conducted by a single robot is much higher than that of their counterparts in other countries. The largest share of the volume is in department of urology (48%), followed by general surgery (25%) and thoracic surgery (13%).ConclusionsThe use of DVSSs in China has been growing rapidly and extensively, with certain differences between geographical regions and surgical departments. We need to further explore the factors affecting its use and operation efficiency and to evaluate the effectiveness as well as cost-effectiveness in real-world clinical practice to inform public policies on application of DVSS, for example, license and insurance.

Risk factors for delayed viral suppression on first-line antiretroviral therapy among persons living with HIV in Haiti, 2013-2017.

Studies of viral suppression on first-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) in persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV) in Haiti are limited, particularly among PLHIV outside of the Ouest department, where the capital Port-au-Prince is located. This study described the prevalence and risk factors for delayed viral suppression among PLHIV in all geographic departments of Haiti between 2013 and 2017. Individuals who received viral load testing 3 to 12 months after ART initiation were included. Data on demographics and clinical care were obtained from the Haitian Active Longitudinal Tracking of HIV database. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to predict delayed viral suppression, defined as a viral load ≥1000 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL after at least 3 months on ART. Viral load test results were available for 3,368 PLHIV newly-initiated on ART. Prevalence of delayed viral suppression was 40%, which is slightly higher than previous estimates in Haiti. In the multivariable analysis, delayed viral suppression was significantly associated with younger age, receiving of care in the Ouest department, treatment with lamivudine (3TC), zidovudine (AZT), and nevirapine (NVP) combined ART regimen, and CD4 counts below 200 cells/mm3. In conclusion, this study was the first to describe and compare differences in delayed viral suppression among PLHIV by geographic department in Haiti. We identified populations to whom public health interventions, such as more frequent viral load testing, drug resistance testing, and ART adherence counseling should be targeted.

Disaster drills as experiential learning opportunities for geographic education

ABSTRACT Student participation in municipal disaster drills can enhance geographic skill sets as well as build community resilience to local hazards. In these drills, students often assume the role of victims to help test local emergency response services. Teaching in an interdisciplinary department, we incorporate these field-based learning opportunities into undergraduate courses that draw heavily on geographic concepts yet reside outside of traditional geographic departments. Given that students enrolled in these courses possess varied backgrounds in geography, we incorporate basic geographic literacy into our course designs and found that municipal disaster drills serve as an impactful field-based learning experience. Though pedagogical observations of students’ understanding of geographic concepts prior to, during, and following disaster drills, we critically examine how this experiential learning activity can enhance students’ understanding of human–environment interaction, political geography, and cultural geography.