Spirometric reference equations and lung function testing in adults from Southwestern Tanzania.

Background: The increasing relevance of lung function testing in diagnosing and treating pulmonary diseases globally requires adequate spirometric reference equations. However, locally derived reference standards from African countries are widely missing.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Southwestern Tanzania.

Adjunctive N-Acetylcysteine and Lung Function in Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

Background: Tuberculosis remains a global health concern, and half of cured patients have permanent lung injury. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) has shown beneficial antimicrobial, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory effects in preclinical tuberculosis models. We examined its effects on tuberculosis treatment outcomes.

Performance of spirometry assessment at TB diagnosis.

Spirometry is considered relevant for the diagnosis and monitoring of post-TB lung disease. However, spirometry is rarely done in newly diagnosed TB patients. Newly diagnosed, microbiologically confirmed TB patients were recruited for the study.

Studying temporal titre evolution of commercial SARS-CoV-2 assays reveals significant shortcomings of using BAU standardization for comparison.

Background: Measuring specific anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies has become one of the main epidemiological tools to survey the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, but also vaccination response. The WHO made available a set of well-characterized samples derived from recovered individuals to allow normalization between different quantitative anti-Spike assays to defined Binding Antibody Units (BAU).

Methods: To assess sero-responses longitudinally, a cohort of ninety-nine SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR positive subjects was followed up together with forty-five vaccinees without previous infection but with two vaccinations.