Scholars@Duke
Joao Vitor Perez de Souza

Joao Vitor Perez de Souza

Assistant Professor in Emergency Medicine
Emergency Medicine

Selected Publications

Effectiveness of a brief intervention and text-based booster in the emergency department to reduce harmful and hazardous alcohol use: A pragmatic randomized adaptive clinical trial in Moshi, Tanzania.

Journal Article PLoS Med · October 2025 BACKGROUND: Alcohol use contributes to over 3 million deaths annually. In Tanzania, there are no evidence-based culturally adapted interventions to address harmful alcohol use behaviors. Our hypothesis was that "Punguza Pombe Kwa Afya Yako" (PPKAY, Reduce ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Using the ADAPT guidance to culturally adapt a brief intervention to reduce alcohol use among injury patients in Tanzania.

Journal Article PLOS Glob Public Health · 2025 Harmful alcohol use is a leading risk factor for injury-related death and disability in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Brief negotiational interventions (BNIs) in emergency departments (EDs) effectively reduce alcohol intake and re-injury rates. ... Full text Link to item Cite

The older the injured, the worse the outcomes: A comparison of injury patterns and in-hospital outcomes between younger and older adult trauma patients at a tertiary hospital in Northern Tanzania.

Journal Article PLOS Glob Public Health · 2025 The number of older adults (>60 years) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is expected to double by 2050. This demographic shift has led to a rise in traumatic injuries among this population, with one in ten trauma patients in Tanzania being an older adult. Yet, g ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on perinatal care and outcomes: A retrospective study in a tertiary hospital in Northern Ghana.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2024 BACKGROUND: Perinatal mortality remains a global challenge. This challenge may be worsened by the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal and child health. OBJECTIVES: Examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on perinatal care and outcomes ... Full text Link to item Cite

AI-based approach for transcribing and classifying unstructured emergency call data: A methodological proposal.

Journal Article PLOS Digit Health · December 2023 Emergency care-sensitive conditions (ECSCs) require rapid identification and treatment and are responsible for over half of all deaths worldwide. Prehospital emergency care (PEC) can provide rapid treatment and access to definitive care for many ECSCs and ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Impact of Time, Region, and Income Level on Stillbirth and Neonatal Mortality in Brazil, 2000-2019.

Journal Article J Pediatr · November 2023 OBJECTIVE: To describe trends in perinatal loss across Brazil, a country that transitioned in 2006 from a lower-middle income to an upper-middle income country, from 2000 to 2019 and analyze the effect of municipal wealth status on perinatal outcomes. STUD ... Full text Link to item Cite

Antibacterial and immunological properties of piperine evidenced by preclinical studies: a systematic review.

Journal Article Future Microbiol · November 2023 Aim: To review in vitro, in vivo, and in silico studies examining the antibacterial and immunomodulatory properties of piperine (PPN). Methods: This systematic review followed PRISMA guidelines, and five databases were searched. Results: A total of 40 arti ... Full text Link to item Cite

Validation of the Pediatric Resuscitation and Trauma Outcome (PRESTO) model in injury patients in Tanzania.

Journal Article BMJ Open · April 5, 2023 INTRODUCTION: Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of unintentional paediatric injury deaths. The Pediatric Resuscitation and Trauma Outcome (PRESTO) model predicts mortality using patient variables available in low-resource settings: age, systolic bloo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Identification of new putative inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis 3-dehydroshikimate dehydratase from a combination of ligand- and structure-based and deep learning in silico approaches.

Journal Article J Biomol Struct Dyn · April 2023 The development of new drugs against Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an essential strategy for fighting drug resistance. Although 3-dehydroquinate dehydratase (MtDHQ) is known to be a highly relevant target for M. tuberculosis, current research shows new put ... Full text Link to item Cite

Applicability of machine learning technique in the screening of patients with mild traumatic brain injury.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2023 Even though the demand of head computed tomography (CT) in patients with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) has progressively increased worldwide, only a small number of individuals have intracranial lesions that require neurosurgical intervention. As such, ... Full text Link to item Cite

Binding of piperine to mycobacterial RNA polymerase improves the efficacy of rifampicin activity against Mycobacterium leprae and nontuberculous mycobacteria.

Journal Article J Biomol Struct Dyn · 2023 Piperine (PPN) is a known inhibitor of efflux pumps in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and in vitro synergism with rifampicin (RIF) has been proven. The current study evaluates the activity of PPN and synergism with RIF in rapidly and slowly growing nontubercul ... Full text Link to item Cite

Systematic review of disulfiram as an antibacterial agent: what is the evidence?

Journal Article Int J Antimicrob Agents · May 2022 The objective of this systematic review was to retrieve and examine published studies related to in vitro and in vivo evaluation of disulfiram for the treatment of bacterial infections. Five scientific databases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, and ... Full text Link to item Cite

Rescue of streptomycin activity by piperine in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Journal Article Future Microbiol · June 2021 Aim: To evaluate the modulatory effect of piperine (PIP) on streptomycin (SM) activity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Materials & methods: SM and PIP minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and combinatory activity were determined in Mtb H37Rv and in ... Full text Link to item Cite

Three decades of clinical trials on immunotherapy for human leishmaniases: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Journal Article Immunotherapy · June 2021 Aim: Current treatments for leishmaniases are not satisfactory, thus alternatives are needed. We searched for clinical trials with immunotherapeutic approaches for patients with leishmaniasis. Materials & methods: Out of 205 articles, 24 clinical trials we ... Full text Link to item Cite

Possible Binding of Piperine in Mycobacterium tuberculosis RNA Polymerase and Rifampin Synergism.

Journal Article Antimicrob Agents Chemother · November 2019 The activity of rifampin (RIF) and piperine was evaluated at the relative transcript levels of 12 efflux pumps (EPs), and an additional mechanism was proposed to be behind the synergic interactions of piperine plus RIF in Mycobacterium tuberculosis AutoDoc ... Full text Link to item Cite

Modulatory effects of verapamil in rifampicin activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Journal Article Future Microbiol · February 2019 AIM: To evaluate modulatory effect of verapamil (VP) in rifampicin (RIF) activity and its effect in efflux pumps (EPs) transcript levels in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. MATERIALS & METHODS: RIF and VP minimal inhibitory concentration, combinatory effect and ... Full text Link to item Cite

Promising Antituberculosis Activity of Piperine Combined with Antimicrobials: A Systematic Review.

Journal Article Microb Drug Resist · 2019 Piperine, a bioactive compound from Piper nigrum and Piper longum, has shown promising activity as efflux pump (EP) inhibitor and as adjunct in treatment of tuberculosis (TB). The present systematic review investigated scientific studies of the activity of ... Full text Link to item Cite

The role of metalloproteases in Leishmania species infection in the New World: a systematic review.

Journal Article Parasitology · October 2018 This is a systematic review on the role of metalloproteases in the pathogenicity of the American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL) caused by New World Leishmania species. The review followed the PRISMA method, searching for articles in PubMed, EMBASE, LILACS ... Full text Link to item Cite