Performance of HRP-2 based rapid diagnostic test for malaria and its variation with age in an area of intense malaria transmission in southern Tanzania.

Background: The use of malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) has been widely advocated to improve Plasmodium falciparum diagnosis, especially in settings where quality microscopy is not available. RDTs based on the detection of histidine-rich protein 2 (HRP-2) can remain positive for several weeks after an infection is cured, due to the persistence of HRP-2 antigens. As a result, test specificity may vary between age groups with different prevalence of P.

Spanish adaptation of the Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale.

Background: The Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DY-BOCS) is a promising new instrument that allows patient and clinician ratings of dimension-specific symptom severity, as well as estimates of global symptom severity in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The goal of this study was to further explore the psychometric properties of the DY-BOCS in a Spanish sample.

Methods: The internal consistency, reliability, and convergent and divergent validity of the Spanish adaptation of the DY-BOCS were assessed in a sample of 51 Spanish adult patients with OCD.

Variants in estrogen receptor alpha gene are associated with phenotypical expression of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Compelling data from animal and clinical studies suggest that sex steroids may play a role in the etiopathology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The aim of this study was to investigate whether variants in estrogen receptor genes ESR1 and ESR2 may contribute to the genetic susceptibility to OCD, through a case-control association study using an extensive linkage disequilibrium-mapping approach. Twenty tag single-nucleotide polymorphisms (tagSNPs) covering the ESR2 region and nine tagSNPS from regions of ESR1 reported to be related to transcriptional control were genotyped in 229 OCD patients and 279 controls.

Etiology and epidemiology of viral pneumonia among hospitalized children in rural Mozambique: a malaria endemic area with high prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus.

Background: The role of viruses in pediatric pneumonia remains poorly studied in sub-Saharan Africa, where pneumonia-associated mortality is high.

Methods: During a 1-year hospital-based surveillance, a nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) was collected from children aged <5 years admitted to hospital in rural Mozambique with clinically severe pneumonia. Identification of 12 respiratory viruses was performed by polymerase chain reactions (PCR).

Prevalence and risk factors of sexually transmitted infections and cervical neoplasia in women from a rural area of southern Mozambique.

There is limited information on the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections and the prevalence of cervical neoplasia in rural sub-Saharan Africa. This study describes the prevalence and the etiology of STIs and the prevalence of cervical neoplasia among women in southern Mozambique. An age-stratified cross-sectional study was performed where 262 women aged 14 to 61 years were recruited at the antenatal clinic (59%), the family-planning clinic (7%), and from the community (34%).

Variations in the shape of the frontobasal brain region in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) emerges during childhood through young adulthood coinciding with the late phases of postnatal brain development when fine remodeling of brain anatomy takes place. Previous research has suggested the existence of subtle anatomical alterations in OCD involving focal volume variations in different brain regions including the frontal lobes and basal ganglia. We investigated whether anatomical changes might also involve variations in the shape of the frontobasal region.

Antimicrobial drug resistance trends of bacteremia isolates in a rural hospital in southern Mozambique.

Antibiotic resistance in Africa is increasing but insufficiently recognized as a public health problem. However, there are scarce data for antimicrobial resistance trends among bloodstream isolates in sub-Saharan Africa. Antimicrobial drug resistance trends among bacteria isolated from blood of children < 15 years of age admitted to the Manhiça District Hospital in Mozambique during May 2001-April 2006 were monitored by disk diffusion.

The cost-effectiveness of intermittent preventive treatment for malaria in infants in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Background: Intermittent preventive treatment in infants (IPTi) has been shown to decrease clinical malaria by approximately 30% in the first year of life and is a promising malaria control strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa which can be delivered alongside the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI). To date, there have been limited data on the cost-effectiveness of this strategy using sulfadoxine pyrimethamine (SP) and no published data on cost-effectiveness using other antimalarials.

Methods: We analysed data from 5 countries in sub-Saharan Africa using a total of 5 different IPTi drug regimens; SP, mefloquine (MQ), 3 days of chlorproguanil-dapsone (CD), SP plus 3 days of artesunate (SP-AS3) and 3 days of amodiaquine-artesunate (AQ3-AS3).

The genus Micromonospora is widespread in legume root nodules: the example of Lupinus angustifolius.

Our current knowledge of plant-microbe interactions indicate that populations inhabiting a host plant are not restricted to a single microbial species but comprise several genera and species. No one knows if communities inside plants interact, and it has been speculated that beneficial effects are the result of their combined activities. During an ecological study of nitrogen-fixing bacterial communities from Lupinus angustifolius collected in Spain, significant numbers of orange-pigmented actinomycete colonies were isolated from surface-sterilized root nodules.

Community effectiveness of intermittent preventive treatment for infants (IPTi) in rural southern Tanzania.

Intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in infants (IPTi) with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine shows evidence of efficacy in individually randomized, controlled trials. In a large-scale effectiveness study, IPTi was introduced in April 2005 by existing health staff through routine contacts in 12 randomly selected divisions out of 24 in 6 districts of rural southern Tanzania. Coverage and effects on malaria and anemia were estimated through a representative survey in 2006 with 600 children aged 2-11 months.

A case-control study of sex differences in strategic processing and episodic memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Although clinical and genetic data for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) support the hypothesis of sexual dimorphism, the neuropsychological findings remain inconclusive. The aim of our study was to determine whether there are differences in cognitive performance between men and women with OCD as compared with healthy controls (HCs). A neuropsychological battery was administered to 50 patients with OCD (31 men and 19 women) and 50 HCs matched by sex, age, and educational level with patients.

Comprehensive copy number variant (CNV) analysis of neuronal pathways genes in psychiatric disorders identifies rare variants within patients.

Background: Copy number variations (CNV) have become an important source of human genome variability noteworthy to consider when studying genetic susceptibility to complex diseases. As recent studies have found evidences for the potential involvement of CNVs in psychiatric disorders, we have studied the dosage effect of structural genome variants as a possible susceptibility factor for different psychiatric disorders in a candidate gene approach.

Methods: After selection of 68 psychiatric disorders' candidate genes overlapping with CNVs, MLPA assays were designed to determine changes in copy number of these genes.

Estimating the vaccine-preventable burden of hospitalized pneumonia among young Mozambican children.

Polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccines against Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and Streptococcus pneumoniae have proven efficacy against radiologically confirmed pneumonia. Measurement of pneumonia incidence provides a platform to estimate of the vaccine-preventable burden. Over 24 months, we conducted surveillance for radiologically confirmed severe pneumonia episodes among children <2 years of age admitted to a rural hospital in Manhiça, southern Mozambique.

Exclusions and deaths on the liver transplant waiting list.

Objective: To analyze the characteristiscs, evolution and survival of patients included on the waiting list (WL) for liver transplantation (OLT).

Patients And Methods: Between February 2002 and April 2009, 254 patients were included on WL to receive a first graft. Two hundred twenty-two patients (87.

Memory and strategic processing in first-degree relatives of obsessive compulsive patients.

Background: The same executive dysfunctions and alterations in neuroimaging tests (both functional and structural) have been found in obsessive-compulsive patients and their first-degree relatives. These neurobiological findings are considered to be intermediate markers of the disease. The aim of our study was to assess verbal and non-verbal memory in unaffected first-degree relatives, in order to determine whether these neuropsychological functions constitute a new cognitive marker for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Malaria prevention with IPTp during pregnancy reduces neonatal mortality.

Background: In the global context of a reduction of under-five mortality, neonatal mortality is an increasingly relevant component of this mortality. Malaria in pregnancy may affect neonatal survival, though no strong evidence exists to support this association.

Methods: In the context of a randomised, placebo-controlled trial of intermittent preventive treatment (IPTp) with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) in 1030 Mozambican pregnant women, 997 newborns were followed up until 12 months of age.

Gastric cancer occurrence in preneoplastic lesions: a long-term follow-up in a high-risk area in Spain.

There are no established criteria to classify patients into high or low risk of progressing to gastric cancer (GC). The aim of the study was to identify predictors of GC occurrence among patients with gastric preneoplastic lesions. A prospective and retrospective follow-up study was carried out in a province in Spain with one of the highest risk of GC.

Serotype-specific pneumococcal disease may be influenced by mannose-binding lectin deficiency.

Previous studies of the association between the mannose-binding lectin pathway deficiencies and invasive pneumococcal disease are inconclusive. Invasiveness of Streptococcus pneumoniae is dependent on serotype. We aimed to determine the association between invasive pneumococcal disease and MBL2 and MASP2 genetic variants, regarding serotype distribution.

Naturally-acquired humoral immune responses against the N- and C-termini of the Plasmodium vivax MSP1 protein in endemic regions of Brazil and Papua New Guinea using a multiplex assay.

Background: Progress towards the development of a malaria vaccine against Plasmodium vivax, the most widely distributed human malaria parasite, will require a better understanding of the immune responses that confer clinical protection to patients in regions where malaria is endemic.

Methods: Glutathione S-transferase (GST) and GST-fusion proteins representing the N- terminus of the merozoite surface protein 1 of P. vivax, PvMSP1-N, and the C-terminus, PvMSP1-C, were covalently coupled to BioPlex carboxylated beads.

High prevalence of symptomatic acute HIV infection in an outpatient ward in southern Mozambique: identification and follow-up.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of acute HIV infection (AHI) within the HIV-seronegative adult population presenting with reported fever in a district hospital in southern Mozambique and evaluate clinical, immunological and virological parameters of AHI.

Design: This is a prospective observational study.

Methods: Three hundred and forty-six adults presenting with reported fever at an outpatient ward at the Manhiça District Hospital in Mozambique were screened for AHI by HIV rapid serology testing, followed by HIV-RNA testing in HIV-seronegative individuals.

The effect of intermittent preventive treatment during pregnancy on malarial antibodies depends on HIV status and is not associated with poor delivery outcomes.

Background: Intermittent preventive treatment during pregnancy (IPTp) with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) is recommended for malaria prevention in sub-Saharan Africa. However, studies reporting the effect of IPTp on malaria-specific immunity are scarce and are based on findings in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative primigravidae.

Methods: Plasma samples obtained from 302 pregnant women (177 who were HIV negative, 88 who were HIV positive, and 37 who were of unknown HIV status) participating in a placebo-controlled trial of IPTp with SP (IPTp-SP) were analyzed for the presence of antibodies against merozoite antigens, whole asexual parasites, and variant surface antigens from chondroitin sulfate A-binding and nonbinding lines.