Circulating natural killer cells and their association with breast cancer and its clinico-pathological characteristics.

Purpose: Natural killer (NK) cells play a critical role in cancer immunosurveillance and hold promise as both therapies and prognostic markers in advanced disease. We explore factors that may influence NK cell concentration in the peripheral blood of women with breast cancer in Côte d'Ivoire compared to healthy controls and implications for future research in our context.

Methods: In this cross-sectional case-control study, blood samples were taken from 30 women diagnosed with breast cancer within 6 months of diagnosis and fifteen healthy women at University Teaching Hospital [Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU)] Treichville in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, from March to September 2018.

Characteristics of districts in Pakistan with persistent transmission of wild poliovirus, 2000-2001.

We sought to identify factors associated with being a reservoir district for wild poliovirus in Pakistan. Differences between reservoir and non-reservoir districts were identified using acute flaccid paralysis surveillance data, population census statistics and data from a survey of district health officials (DHOs). Of the 11 poliovirus reservoir districts identified, population density was significantly higher (median 550 persons/km2) than the non-reservoirs (median 175 persons/km2).

Water-borne hepatitis E virus epidemic in Islamabad, Pakistan: a common source outbreak traced to the malfunction of a modern water treatment plant.

During December 1993 and in the first three months of 1994, an explosive water-borne epidemic of hepatitis E virus (HEV) occurred in two sectors of Islamabad, Pakistan. In a survey of a population of 36,705 individuals, a total of 3,827 cases of acute icteric hepatitis were recorded with an overall attack rate (AR) of 10.4%.

Female health workers boost primary care.

Women residing in villages in three districts of Pakistan were recruited, trained to deliver primary care and mobilize their communities for health, assigned to limited catchment areas, provided with supervisory and managerial support, and remunerated. Their comprehensive activities substantially reduced infant, child and maternal mortality within a year and generated positive perceptions of family planning in the communities. The programme was cost-effective and appeared suitable as a model for reforming the organization and provision of health care services.

Epidemiological study of parasitic infections in Somali nomads.

In Somali nomads the incidence of intestinal helminths is very low compared with that observed in Somalian closed institutions and practically no Entamoeba infection occurs. Schistosoma haematobium eggs are observed in urine of 50% of adults nomads. Immunological tests reveal that the relative prevalences of leishmaniasis (the lowest), malaria, and toxoplasmosis (the highest) in nomads are similar to those shown by the same techniques in settled communities.