Surveillance Process Research Articles

The 2021-2023 Italian influenza pandemic plan: a critical evaluation of its regional implementation

Abstract Background Influenza pandemic preparedness plans should be adopted, regularly updated in every country, and comply with international guidelines to ensure proper management of public health emergencies. In Italy, each region develops its pandemic plan based on a National Plan. This study, conducted within a project funded by the Italian Ministry of Health, aims to assess the level of compliance of these plans with the national guidelines. Methods The assessment was based on a checklist of 192 items reporting the actions prescribed by the national plan. The items were divided into macro-areas by pandemic phase: general, alert, inter-pandemic, pandemic, and transition. The compliance regarding the presence and contextualization of each item in the regional plans was evaluated. Each macro-area was further assessed for easy identification of actions, congruence with the National Plan, and contextualization in the regional healthcare system. Some analyses grouped the regions into North, Centre, and South/Islands. Results Some macro-areas, such as ‘Communication’ and ‘Prevention and Control measures,’ showed some weaknesses in all phases, especially in the northern regions, which reached levels of full compliance below 50%. Central regions were highly compliant in almost all macro-areas, especially in ‘Strategy/Governance’ (100%), ‘Supplying’ (75-100%), and ‘Surveillance’ (75-100%). Overall, contextualization was the weakest aspect in all phases, while easy identification and congruence were mainly better achieved. Only three regions fully met all the assessed parameters. Conclusions A strict surveillance and monitoring process of planned activities is necessary to strengthen the country’s preparedness. This study identified critical issues and key areas for improvement at the regional level. This might allow us to verify the correct implementation of national guidelines and define the best strategies for improving readiness for public health emergencies in the future. Key messages • Implementation of the Italian influenza pandemic plan was uneven across regions. • Identification of lacking areas of the regional implementation is essential to improving national preparedness.

Development of a total quality management framework for the mobile network operations Centre

Telecommunication is one of the most fast-paced and rapidly changing sectors globally. This study develops a total quality management (TQM) framework for mobile network operation centres (NOC) to aid in network surveillance and fault management processes for a 5G transmission network. A systematic literature review was conducted using academic articles in journals and conference papers sourced from the EBSCOHost database. A fuzzy analytic hierarchical process (FAHP) was used as a multi-criteria decision-making tool to determine which criteria and factors are of the highest ranking for the development of the TQM framework. Data collection and control sheets were ranked higher, making them critical to the framework. This shows that, without good data, no problems can be identified, visualised, analysed, and solved and processes will not be improved. Process improvement is ranked last, showing it is of the lowest priority compared to the other criteria. This however, does not imply that in TQM it is of lower priority, as it is needed to keep meeting the needs of the customers. The framework includes how the TQM tools and techniques can be used in collecting, visualising, analysing, solving problems, and improving processes.

Development of an intelligent-based telemetry hexapod robotic system for surveillance of power system components

A robot is an artificial system that performs specific programmed tasks to aid day-to-day human activities. Robot finds applications in industries for large-scale production, healthcare for computer-aided surgeries, security for surveillance of electrical power system equipment, and the military for carrying out dangerous reconnaissance. Most robotic systems employed for different operations use a wheeled mode of locomotion which has limitations over rough terrains and the issue of communication setup of the system. This work developed a hexapod, a six-legged robotic system, to overcome these identified challenges. The robot was developed in tandem with a telemetry system for surveillance. Although, automating the surveillance process using robotic systems has been in the works for some time. However, this work developed a telemetry hexapod robotic system for enhanced surveillance for the security of power systems equipment and other critical infrastructures using a Raspberry Pi for fast, secure data transmission, and precise system synchronization. An inverse kinematics approach was used to determine joint configurations for better positions of each endpoint. A digital camera was integrated into the robot to relay real-time images of adversaries of power system components intelligently. In addition, the system incorporates data processing capability. In the result obtained, the developed telemetry hexapod robotic system receives instructions over a distance slightly above 300 m. It establishes effective control of the telemetry system without any hindrance of a limited range as observed in Bluetooth-controlled systems. The system's performance includes an average efficiency of 98.2 %, latency of 0.48 s at the peak distance, and an endurance of 4 h. Further analysis of the system shows that the corresponding increase in the latency with the distance is negligible. The system performed better than other related systems considered in the literature. The correct implementation of the developed telemetry hexapod robotic system further enhances mobility, stability in rough terrain, reliable communication system. Also, it brings about a notable reduction in component theft in electrical power systems.

Technological Surveillance Study on the Development of Beekeeping Technologies

This study employed a technology surveillance process in the beekeeping sector with the objective of identifying emerging technologies that are relevant to small beekeepers in emerging economies. The analysis of patents classified under A01K 47/00 revealed the emergence of pivotal innovations in domains such as hive design, automated honey extraction, and the integration of sensors for hive monitoring. The surveillance process facilitated the collection and analysis of data on the most patented technologies in the sector, thereby addressing key planning questions. The study identified technological trends with the potential to transform beekeeping in low-tech contexts, thereby enhancing the productivity and sustainability of beekeeping operations. The findings of this study indicate that the identified technologies have the potential to significantly contribute to the well-being of small beekeepers, provided that their adoption is facilitated through the provision of governmental and organizational support. It is recommended that future research investigate the implementation of these technologies and the factors that influence their adoption in diverse production contexts.

Review of Innovative Cavity Designs in Metal–Insulator-Metal Waveguide-Based Plasmonic Sensors

AbstractPlasmonic sensors utilizing metal–insulator-metal (MIM) waveguides represent a significant advancement in sensing technology due to their high sensitivity and versatility. These sensors leverage surface plasmon polaritons to detect minute changes in the surrounding environment, making them highly effective for a range of applications. For instance, they can precisely measure variations in the Refractive Index, which is crucial for monitoring chemical concentrations and biological interactions. Additionally, MIM waveguides can be adapted to sense temperature fluctuations, pressure changes, and the presence of specific gases, providing valuable insights in fields such as environmental surveillance, medical diagnostics, and industrial processes. In recent years, a variety of sensor cavity shapes have been proposed to enhance sensor performance. This review examines how these innovative geometries optimize sensor cavities to achieve unprecedented levels of resolution and sensitivity, underscoring their transformative potential across a broad spectrum of scientific and practical applications.

Parents’ experiences of perinatal child protection processes: A systematic review and thematic synthesis informed by a socio-ecological approach

BackgroundNationally and internationally, researchers and practitioners are increasingly expressing concerns regarding the number of babies removed by child protection systems soon after birth and how child protection processes in the perinatal period (conception to one year following birth) impact families. AimThis systematic review synthesises qualitative studies to gain an understanding of the experiences and needs of pregnant women, mothers, and fathers involved in perinatal child protection processes that occur in health, welfare, and legal systems. MethodsMulti-disciplinary electronic databases (13) were searched for relevant peer-reviewed journal articles written in English and published since 2000. Twenty-four articles met the inclusion criteria. Analysis adopted a socio-ecological approach and thematic synthesis. An expert advisory group comprised of lived experience advisors, service providers, and academics contributed to development of the thematic framework. ResultsAlthough the reviewed studies were conducted between 2005 and 2023 with diverse participants from six countries, they highlight parents’ similar experiences of perinatal child protection processes. Parents’ experiences are synthesised according to spheres of the socio-ecological model:(i) At the individual level, parents described their love, hope, confusion, fear, agency, and anguish.(ii) Within relationships parents recounted broken parent-baby bonds, limited personal and professional support, and the implications of trauma and trust for parent-professional relationships.(iii) When engaging with organisations parents reported pervasive surveillance and harmful processes, inadequate communication and support, and power imbalances.(iv) At policy and societal levels parents’ experiences pointed to dominant Western norms and values, increased poverty and homelessness, compromised rights, and prejudicial perinatal policies.Also synthesised are parents’, professionals’, and researchers’ recommendations for improving perinatal child protection processes and supporting families. ConclusionsOver the last 20 years, qualitative studies from around the globe have consistently reported the adverse biopsychosocial impacts of removing babies from their families. Addressing poverty and trauma, redressing power imbalances, and mitigating the enduring impact of perinatal child protection processes is critical for parents’ to be able to keep or be reunified with their babies. Shifts at institutional, policy, and societal levels are needed to: prioritise prevention and early intervention; enable relational practice and cross-sector collaboration; and move beyond traditional Western notions of family. Centring parents’ voices in efforts to improve child protection processes before and after birth will help inform the delivery of early and appropriate support to meet parents’ identified needs and promote family wellbeing.

Automating COVID-19 epidemiological situation reports based on multiple data sources, the Netherlands, 2020 to 2023

BackgroundDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands developed a pipeline of scripts to automate and streamline the production of epidemiological situation reports (epi‑sitrep). The pipeline was developed for the Automation of Data Import, Summarization, and Communication (hereafter called the A-DISC pipeline). ObjectiveThis paper describes the A-DISC pipeline and provides a customizable scripts template that may be useful for other countries wanting to automate their infectious disease surveillance processes. MethodsThe A-DISC pipeline was developed using the open-source statistical software R. It is organized in four modules: Prepare, Process data, Produce report, and Communicate. The Prepare scripts set the working environment (e.g., load packages). The (data-specific) Process data scripts import, validate, verify, transform, save, analyze, and summarize data as tables and figures and store these data summaries. The Produce report scripts gather summaries from multiple data sources and integrate them into a RMarkdown document – the epi‑sitrep. The Communicate scripts send e-mails to stakeholders with the epi‑sitrep. ResultsAs of March 2023, up to ten data sources were automatically summarized into tables and figures by A-DISC. These data summaries were featured in routine extensive COVID-19 epi‑sitreps, shared as open data, plotted on RIVM's website, sent to stakeholders and submitted to European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control via the European Surveillance System -TESSy [38]. DiscussionIn the face of an unprecedented high number of cases being reported during the COVID-19 pandemic, the A-DISC pipeline was essential to produce frequent and comprehensive epi‑sitreps. A-DISC's modular and intuitive structure allowed for the integration of data sources of varying complexities, encouraged collaboration among people with various R-scripting capabilities, and improved data lineage. The A-DISC pipeline remains under active development and is currently being used in modified form for the automatization and professionalization of various other disease surveillance processes at the RIVM, with high acceptance from the participant epidemiologists. ConclusionThe A-DISC pipeline is an open-source, robust, and customizable tool for automating epi‑sitreps based on multiple data sources.

Modulation of immune responses in the liver: The role of curcumin in balancing between health and disease

The human liver, traditionally viewed as a metabolic and detoxifying organ, is now being acknowledged for its complex immunological activities involving diverse resident immune cell populations and non-hematopoietic cells. Even in the absence of disease, the liver actively engages in immune surveillance and regulatory processes to support metabolic functions and tissue remodeling, influenced by continuous exposure to dietary and microbial elements. However, maintaining a delicate balance within this dynamic microenvironment is crucial, as uncontrolled inflammation can result in pathological conditions. Effective immune activation is essential for responding to challenges such as pathogens or tissue damage, while mechanisms for resolving inflammation are necessary to maintain liver homeostasis. This review examines the diverse roles of hepatic inflammatory mechanisms in both normal and pathological liver conditions, where dysregulation contributes to chronic inflammation and diseases. A key focus of this discussion is the potential therapeutic role of curcumin, the primary curcuminoid found in turmeric. Curcumin is well known for its potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and has shown the ability to modulate various signaling pathways. Notably, curcumin acts by suppressing nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), a crucial player in the inflammatory cascade. NF-κB not only triggers inflammation but also influences cell survival, proliferation, invasion, and angiogenesis. Drawing from existing literature, we emphasize curcumin’s ability to scavenge free radicals, reduce lipid peroxidation, and target NF-κB-dependent pathways. By elucidating the evolving comprehension of inflammation’s role in maintaining liver balance, we suggest that curcumin represents a promising approach for treating chronic liver inflammation, thereby preventing fibrosis and related ailments. This thorough analysis highlights the potential of curcumin in modulating immune regulatory pathways specific to the liver, providing valuable insights into its use as a targeted therapeutic intervention against chronic liver inflammation that results in fibrosis.

The Impact Of Using Technology And Innovation In Law Enforcement In The Era Of Digitalization

In an era of rapid digitalization, technology and innovation have fundamentally transformed the landscape of law enforcement. This article examines the profound impact of information technology on various aspects of law enforcement in the digital age. It offers a comprehensive review of how technology has reshaped evidence collection, surveillance, rule enforcement, and dispute resolution processes. Additionally, the article discusses the challenges and opportunities the legal system faces in adapting to these technological advancements. Utilizing a literature review methodology, the research analyzes case studies and conceptual frameworks to provide a deeper understanding of how technology enhances the effectiveness and efficiency of law enforcement while considering its broader implications for justice and human rights. Furthermore, this study lays the groundwork for future research, encouraging further empirical exploration of these critical issues. This research examines the impact of technology on the accessibility of justice, highlighting both its potential to democratize legal services and the challenges it poses, such as privacy concerns and security risks. By exploring these dynamics, the study lays the groundwork for future research on the evolving role of technology in law enforcement and legal systems.

A narrative review of wastewater surveillance: pathogens of concern, applications, detection methods, and challenges.

The emergence and resurgence of pathogens have led to significant global health challenges. Wastewater surveillance has historically been used to track water-borne or fecal-orally transmitted pathogens, providing a sensitive means of monitoring pathogens within a community. This technique offers a comprehensive, real-time, and cost-effective approach to disease surveillance, especially for diseases that are difficult to monitor through individual clinical screenings. This narrative review examines the current state of knowledge on wastewater surveillance, emphasizing important findings and techniques used to detect potential pathogens from wastewater. It includes a review of literature on the detection methods, the pathogens of concern, and the challenges faced in the surveillance process. Wastewater surveillance has proven to be a powerful tool for early warning and timely intervention of infectious diseases. It can detect pathogens shed by asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic individuals, providing an accurate population-level view of disease transmission. The review highlights the applications of wastewater surveillance in tracking key pathogens of concern, such as gastrointestinal pathogens, respiratory pathogens, and viruses like SARS-CoV-2. The review discusses the benefits of wastewater surveillance in public health, particularly its role in enhancing existing systems for infectious disease surveillance. It also addresses the challenges faced, such as the need for improved detection methods and the management of antimicrobial resistance. The potential for wastewater surveillance to inform public health mitigation strategies and outbreak response protocols is emphasized. Wastewater surveillance is a valuable tool in the fight against infectious diseases. It offers a unique perspective on the spread and evolution of pathogens, aiding in the prevention and control of disease epidemics. This review underscores the importance of continued research and development in this field to overcome current challenges and maximize the potential of wastewater surveillance in public health.

A qualitative, multi-centre approach to the current state of digitalisation and automation of surveillance in infection prevention and control in German hospitals

BackgroundHealthcare associated infections (HAI) pose a major threat to healthcare systems resulting in an increased burden of disease. Surveillance plays a key role in rapidly identifying these infections and preventing further transmissions. Alas, in German hospitals, the majority of surveillance efforts have been heavily relying on labour intensive processes like manual chart review. In order to be able to identify further starting points for future digital tools and interventions to aid the surveillance of HAI we aimed to gain an understanding of the current state of digitalisation in the context of the general surveillance organisation in German clinics across all care-levels. The end user perspective of infection prevention and control (IPC) professionals was chosen to identify digital interventions that have the biggest impact on the daily surveillance work routines of IPC professionals. Perceived impediments in the advancement of surveillance digitalisation should be explored.MethodsFollowing the development of an interview guideline, eight IPC professionals from seven German hospitals of different care levels were questioned in semi- structured interviews between December 2022 and January 2023. These included questions about general surveillance organisation, access to digital data sources, software to aid the surveillance process as well as current issues in the surveillance process and implementation of software systems. Subsequently, after full transcription, the interview sections were categorized in code categories (first deductive then inductive coding) and analysed qualitatively.ResultsResults were characterised by high heterogeneity in terms of general surveillance organisation and access to digital data sources. Software configuration of hospital and laboratory information systems (HIS/LIS) as well as patient data management systems (PDMS) varied not only between hospitals of different care levels but also between hospitals of the same care level. Outside research projects, neither fully automatic software nor solutions utilising artificial intelligence have currently been implemented in clinical routine in any of the hospitals.ConclusionsAccess to digital data sources and software is increasingly available to aid surveillance of HAI. Nevertheless, surveillance processes in hospitals analysed in this study still heavily rely on manual processes. In the analysed hospitals, there is an implementation and funding gap of (semi-) automatic surveillance solutions in clinical practice, especially in healthcare facilities of lower care levels.

BANKING SUPERVISION THROUGH SUPTECH

Victor Ababii E-mail: ababii.victor@gmail.com PhD student, Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova Head of Division, Reporting and Statistics Department, National Bank of Moldova Chișinău, Republic of Moldova https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9573-0204 Abstract: The banking system requires continuous development to enhance stability and integrity of the financial sector by implementing the latest technological tools. Maintaining a sustainable financial system, resilient to the shocks generated by the digital age and able to adapt and prevent emerging cyber risks remains a priority for supervisory institutions, in response to financial supervision and risk management framework through leveraging state-of-the-art technology for better governance and control. SupTech's primary objective is to promote inclusion in the financial sector by focusing on governance management and digital financing. It`s goal is to support the development of an inclusive financial system built on a robust digital infrastructure that enhances efficiency, transparency, and resilience. As technological innovations advance, financial services have to evolve, requiring financial institutions to adapt their surveillance technologies (SupTech) to safeguard citizen interests. Establishing both normative and technical SupTech frameworks helps supervisory authorities to eliminate gaps in internal processes, streamline workflows, fortify risk management, protect consumers, and maintain financial system stability amid ongoing market changes. Implementing a SupTech framework involves several stages: diagnosing the institution's current state, defining the purpose, vision, and objectives of SupTech, identifying key drivers and adaptive capabilities, evaluating necessary actions, and detailing steps for successful implementation. A thorough diagnosis of the supervisory institution involves IT solutions that facilitate continuous bank monitoring and offsite supervision. This diagnostic analysis includes: (1) Data products – identifying the position and trends to reach the level of AI-augment business intelligence tools; (2) Analytics – aiming to implement analytics tools perspectives; (3) Access controls - with the position on the agency - wide access; (4) Storage – oriented towards the use target of big data tools; (5) Validation and processing – aiming at the use of advanced data processing; (6) Collection – using the latest AI-based collection trends or alternative data sources. Configuring the SupTech framework involves transforming vulnerabilities into opportunities. For example, automating data flows can address deficiencies in manual data handling, risk assessment, and report generation. Implementing a data warehouse can solve challenges related to data consolidation, multiple analysis tools, system integration complexity, and data correlation. SupTech aims to provide supervisory authorities with reliable, high-quality data, aligning with best practices in governance and data management. This ensures consistency in the supervisory process and resilience to technological advancements. Digitizing surveillance processes is crucial for operational efficiency, with advanced analytics and business intelligence solutions enhancing surveillance information and decision-making. Keywords: SupTech, Fintech, Regtech, risks, data model. JEL classification: G21

Surveillance of Health Care-Associated Violence Using Natural Language Processing.

Patient and family violent outbursts toward staff, caregivers, or through self-harm, have increased during the ongoing behavioral health crisis. These health care-associated violence (HAV) episodes are likely under-reported. We sought to assess the feasibility of using nursing notes to identify under-reported HAV episodes. We extracted nursing notes across inpatient units at 2 hospitals for 2019: a pediatric tertiary care center and a community-based hospital. We used a workflow for narrative data processing using a natural language processing (NLP) assisted manual review process performed by domain experts (a nurse and a physician). We trained the NLP models on the tertiary care center data and validated it on the community hospital data. Finally, we applied these surveillance methods to real-time data for 2022 to assess reporting completeness of new cases. We used 70 981 notes from the tertiary care center for model building and internal validation and 19 332 notes from the community hospital for external validation. The final community hospital model sensitivity was 96.8% (95% CI 90.6% to 100%) and a specificity of 47.1% (39.6% to 54.6%) compared with manual review. We identified 31 HAV episodes in July to December 2022, of which 26 were reportable in accordance with the hospital internal criteria. Only 7 of 26 cases were reported by employees using the self-reporting system, all of which were identified by our surveillance process. NLP-assisted review is a feasible method for surveillance of under-reported HAV episodes, with implementation and usability that can be achieved even at a low information technology-resourced hospital setting.

Hierarchical Framework for Optimizing Wildfire Surveillance and Suppression Using Human-Autonomous Teaming

The integration of manned and unmanned aircraft can help improve wildfire response. Wildfire containment failures occur when the resources available to first responders, who execute the initial stages of wildfire management referred to as the initial attack, are ineffective or insufficient. Initial attack surveillance and suppression models have linked action spaces and objectives, making their optimization computationally challenging. The initial attack may be formulated as a multi-agent partially observable Markov decision process (MPOMDP). We divide the initial attack MPOMDP into surveillance and suppression processes with their respective planners operating on different, but constant, time scales. A hierarchical framework iterates between surveillance and suppression planners while also providing collision avoidance. This framework is exemplified by a set of multirotor unmanned aircraft surveying an initial attack fire while a manned helicopter suppresses the fire with a water bucket. Wildfire-specific solver extensions are formulated to reduce the otherwise vast action spaces. The hierarchical framework outperforms firefighting techniques and a myopic baseline by up to 242% for moderate wildfires and 60% for rapid wildfires when simulated in abstracted and actual case studies. We also validate the early dispatching of additional suppression assets using regression models to ensure wildfire containment within thresholds established by wildfire agencies.

Strategic optimization: redesign of internal processes in international bulk companies

This research aims to redesign the surveillance and scale processes of an international bulk company, with the aim of streamlining and improving them. The DMAIC Methodology was systematically applied at each stage from a structured approach that improved and optimized existing internal processes, clearly establishing the problem and objectives of the redesign to subsequently collect and analyze necessary information, establishing key measurement metrics that evaluated the success of the redesign. Once the causes and areas for improvement were identified, solutions were developed and changes were implemented in the structure of the processes. The results obtained were the redesign of the company's internal surveillance and scale processes with optimized times of 44 and 77 minutes respectively, obtaining a difference of 25 to 33 minutes, allowing the company to carry out a total of 900 loads per month in 28 minutes. per unit load.

Evaluation of self-collected nasal, urine, and saliva samples for molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 using an EUA approved RT-PCR assay and a laboratory developed LAMP SARS-CoV-2 test.

As the SARS-CoV-2 virus spread throughout the world, millions of positive cases of COVID-19 were registered and, even though there are millions of people already vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, a large part of the global population remains vulnerable to contracting the virus. Massive nasopharyngeal sample collection in Puerto Rico at the beginning of the pandemic was limited by the scarcity of trained personnel and testing sites. To increase SARS-CoV-2 molecular testing availability, we evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of self-collected nasal, saliva, and urine samples using the TaqPath reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) COVID-19 kit to detect SARS-CoV-2. We also created a colorimetric loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) laboratory developed test (LDT) to detect SARS-CoV-2, as another strategy to increase the availability of molecular testing in community-based laboratories. Automated RNA extraction was performed in the KingFisher Flex instrument, followed by PCR quantification of SARS-CoV-2 on the 7500 Fast Dx RT-PCR using the TaqPath RT-PCR COVID-19 molecular test. Data was interpreted by the COVID-19 Interpretive Software from Applied Biosystems and statistically analyzed with Cohen's kappa coefficient (k). Cohen's kappa coefficient (k) for paired nasal and saliva samples showed moderate agreement (0.52). Saliva samples exhibited a higher viral load. We also observed 90% concordance between LifeGene-Biomarks' SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Colorimetric LAMP LDT and the TaqPath RT-PCR COVID-19 test. Our results suggest that self-collected saliva is superior to nasal and urine samples for COVID-19 testing. The results also suggest that the colorimetric LAMP LDT is a rapid alternative to RT-PCR tests for the detection of SARS-CoV-2. This test can be easily implemented in clinics, hospitals, the workplace, and at home; optimizing the surveillance and collection process, which helps mitigate global public health and socioeconomic upheaval caused by airborne pandemics.

Assessment of the policy enabling environment for large-scale food fortification: A novel framework with an application to Kenya.

Large-scale food fortification (LSFF) programs have potential to improve a population's nutritional status. Though their success depends heavily on the prevailing policy environment, few tools exist to understand this environment. To address this gap, we develop a novel framework to define and assess the policy enabling environment for LSFF. This easy-to-apply framework can be used in any setting to track progress and identify next steps for continued improvements. The policy enabling environment is conceptualized as having three domains-policy agenda setting, policy implementation, and policy monitoring and evaluation-each of which is captured through indicators that can be evaluated using existing documentation, key informant interviews, and/or a survey of stakeholder perceptions. To validate the framework and demonstrate how it can be operationalized, we apply it in Kenya, where a mandatory LSFF program for salt has been in place since 1978, and a program for packaged maize and wheat flours and vegetable oils was introduced in 2012. Per our assessment, Kenya has achieved the greatest success within the domain of policy agenda setting, has realized moderate success in policy implementation, and has a weaker record in policy monitoring and evaluation. The positive trajectory for many indicators points to a promising future for Kenya's LSFF program. This assessment yields policy implications for Kenya to improve its policy environment for LSFF, especially around financial sustainability of the program; ways to improve the processes for surveillance and enforcement; efforts to support fortification among medium-and small-scale millers; and a need to improve the data landscape.

Rules and impacts of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay in the degradation of long noncoding RNAs.

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a quality-control process that selectively degrades mRNAs having premature termination codon, upstream open reading frame, or unusually long 3'UTR. NMD detects such mRNAs and rapidly degrades them during initial rounds of translation in the eukaryotic cells. Since NMD is a translation-dependent cytoplasmic mRNA surveillance process, the noncoding RNAs were initially believed to be NMD-resistant. The sequence feature-based analysis has revealed that many putative long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have short open reading frames, most of which have translation potential. Subsequent transcriptome-based molecular studies showed an association of a large set of such putative lncRNAs with translating ribosomes, and some of them produce stable and functionally active micropeptides. The translationally active lncRNAs typically have relatively longer and unprotected 3'UTR, which can induce their NMD-dependent degradation. This review defines the mechanism and regulation of NMD-dependent degradation of lncRNAs and its impact on biological processes related to the functions of lncRNAs or their encoded micropeptides. This article is categorized under: RNA Turnover and Surveillance > Turnover/Surveillance Mechanisms RNA Turnover and Surveillance > Regulation of RNA Stability RNA in Disease and Development > RNA in Disease.

“The Desert of Spoken Words”: Conversations of Bishop Márton Áron Recorded by the Securitate in 1956–1980

Márton Áron, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Alba Iulia (1938–1980), came to the attention of the Securitate from the founding of this repressive institution until the autumn of 1980, when he passed away. The reasons for his surveillance were his popularity among the faithful, his outspoken anti-communism, his loyalty to the Vatican and the fact that he came from the country’s largest national minority. The results of this extended surveillance are reflected today in the bishop’s files in the Archive of the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives in Bucharest. One of the main methods used by the Securitate in the surveillance process was the use of microphones. They were installed in the bishop’s office in 1956 and operated with short interruptions until the end of his life. The transcripts of the recorded conversations are today in the bishop’s files and represent a “gold mine” for historians interested in the Catholic Church in Romania during the Communist regime.

Perceptions and digitalisation of outbreak management in UK health services: A cross-sectional survey.

Global challenges arise from infectious diseases which represent significant challenges to the provision of healthcare, requiring efficient management procedures to limit transmission. Evaluating current outbreak management processes within UK healthcare services is essential for identifying strengths, weaknesses, and potential improvements. This study aimed to assess infection prevention and control (IPC) practitioners' access to outbreak management (OM) data. Secondary objectives involved determining IPC practitioners' perceptions of outbreak management processes and the state of digitalisation of OM in the UK. National cross-sectional survey data were collected to evaluate current outbreak management approaches. To supplement this, information requests were sent to the 10 largest teaching and research NHS hospital trusts in England. The survey received 55 responses with 53 considered for analysis. Out of 10 NHS trusts, nine provided completed FOI responses, while one was unable to provide data. The study offers unique insights into prevailing outbreak management practices within UK health services. Although positive perceptions surround key outbreak management stages, concerns arise, including varying confidence levels in surveillance processes' robustness, efficacy of management interventions, and communication effectiveness. The study highlights challenges with OM processes in the UK, including issues like poor surveillance and delayed outbreak detection. Positive practitioner perceptions contrast with concerns over data collection, follow-up, and limited digitalisation, relying on basic tools like Excel and Word, hindering retrospective learning.