Perplexing paradoxical reactions: navigating the complexity of protracted tuberculosis meningitis-a case report.

Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) has considerable mortality and morbidity, and it often presents therapeutic challenges when complicated by paradoxical reactions (PRs). Here, the clinical course of four cases of TBM patients complicated by PRs in a longitudinal TB cohort is described while also providing insights from the larger clinical cohort. Research flow cytometry, biomarker analysis, and drug concentrations were performed on available samples.

Executive function and cortical thickness in biomarker aMCI.

Introduction: Memory deficits are the primary symptom in amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI); however, executive function (EF) deficits are common. The current study examined EF in aMCI based upon amyloid status (A+/A-) and regional atrophy in signature areas of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Method: Participants included 110 individuals with aMCI (A+ = 66; A- = 44) and 33 cognitively healthy participants (HP).

SmartOCT: smartphone-integrated optical coherence tomography.

Smartphone devices have seen unprecedented technical innovation in computational power and optical imaging capabilities, making them potentially invaluable tools in scientific imaging applications. The smartphone's compact form-factor and broad accessibility has motivated researchers to develop smartphone-integrated imaging systems for a wide array of applications. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is one such technique that could benefit from smartphone-integration.

MURIN: Multimodal Retinal Imaging and Navigated-laser-delivery for dynamic and longitudinal tracking of photodamage in murine models.

Laser-induced photodamage is a robust method for investigating retinal pathologies in small animals. However, aiming of the photocoagulation laser is often limited by manual alignment and lacks real-time feedback on lesion location and severity. Here, we demonstrate a multimodality OCT and SLO ophthalmic imaging system with an image-guided scanning laser lesioning module optimized for the murine retina.

DiffuserSpec: spectroscopy with Scotch tape.

Computational spectroscopy breaks the inherent one-to-one spatial-to-spectral pixel mapping of traditional spectrometers by multiplexing spectral data over a given sensor region. Most computational spectrometers require components that are complex to design, fabricate, or both. DiffuserSpec is a simple computational spectrometer that uses the inherent spectral dispersion of commercially available diffusers to generate speckle patterns that are unique to each wavelength.

Effects of Hypertension on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders.

Purpose Of Review: To review the pathophysiology of hypertension in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and explore the current landscape of clinical trials involving treatment of hypertension to improve cognition.

Recent Findings: Hypertension is increasingly recognized as a contributor to cognitive impairment. Clinical trials that explore blood pressure reductions with cognitive outcomes have been promising.

Clinical outcomes and return to sport after single-stage revision anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction by bone-patellar tendon autograft combined with lateral extra-articular tenodesis.

Purpose: The anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) failure rate continues to increase. Involvement of a young population with a desire to return to sport, explains the increased need for ACLR (revACLR) revision. The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical outcome, complications, failure rate and return to sport of a single-stage revACLR using bone patellar tendon-bone (BTBT) combined with lateral extra-articular tenodesis (LET).

A multi-channel smartphone-based spectroscopic system for high-throughput biosensing in low-resource settings.

Primary healthcare centers (PHC) are the first point of contact for people in low-resource settings, and laboratory services play a critical role in early diagnosis of any disease. In recent years, several smartphone-based spectroscopic systems have been demonstrated to translate lab-confined healthcare applications into point-of-care environments to improve their accessibility. Due to constraints, such as the low availability of skilled personnel and consumables in a PHC, batch processing would be ideal for a large number of samples.

Periodontal Disease and Risk of Dementia in Medicare Patients with Hepatitis C Virus.

Background: Periodontal disease and hepatitis C virus (HCV) represent chronic infectious states that are common in elderly adults. Both conditions have independently been associated with an increased risk for dementia. Chronic infections are thought to lead to neurodegenerative changes in the central nervous system possibly by promoting a proinflammatory state.

Retinal OCT Denoising with Pseudo-Multimodal Fusion Network.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a prevalent imaging technique for retina. However, it is affected by multiplicative speckle noise that can degrade the visibility of essential anatomical structures, including blood vessels and tissue layers. Although averaging repeated B-scan frames can significantly improve the signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR), this requires longer acquisition time, which can introduce motion artifacts and cause discomfort to patients.

Handheld spectrally encoded coherence tomography and reflectometry for motion-corrected ophthalmic optical coherence tomography and optical coherence tomography angiography.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is the gold standard for quantitative ophthalmic imaging. The majority of commercial and research systems require patients to fixate and be imaged in a seated upright position, which limits the ability to perform ophthalmic imaging in bedridden or pediatric patients. Handheld OCT devices overcome this limitation, but image quality often suffers due to a lack of real-time aiming and patient eye and photographer motion.

Self-fusion for OCT noise reduction.

Reducing speckle noise is an important task for improving visual and automated assessment of retinal OCT images. Traditional image/signal processing methods only offer moderate speckle reduction; deep learning methods can be more effective but require substantial training data, which may not be readily available. We present a novel self-fusion method that offers effective speckle reduction comparable to deep learning methods, but without any external training data.

Timing for Safe Return to Sport after Medial Patellofemoral Ligament Reconstruction: The Role of a Functional Test Battery.

The purpose of this article was to analyze clinical and functional results after medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) reconstruction and to establish if a computer-assisted physical test battery could determine a "safe timing" to return to sport. We hypothesized that "time-based" criteria to declare safe return to sport could not be reliable to predict functional recover. Fifty-eight young athletic patients were selected after isolated reconstruction of MPFL.

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency in Ethiopia: absence of common African and Mediterranean allelic variants in a nationwide study.

Background: Building on the declining trend of malaria in Ethiopia, the Federal Ministry of Health aims to eliminate malaria by 2030. As Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax are co-endemic in Ethiopia, the use of primaquine is indicated for both transmission interruption and radical cure, respectively. However, the limited knowledge of the local prevalence of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency and its associated variants has hindered the use of primaquine.

Correction: Comparison of artemether-lumefantrine and chloroquine with and without primaquine for the treatment of Plasmodium vivax infection in Ethiopia: A randomized controlled trial.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.

Comparison of artemether-lumefantrine and chloroquine with and without primaquine for the treatment of Plasmodium vivax infection in Ethiopia: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Recent efforts in malaria control have resulted in great gains in reducing the burden of Plasmodium falciparum, but P. vivax has been more refractory. Its ability to form dormant liver stages confounds control and elimination efforts.

Simultaneous multimodal ophthalmic imaging using swept-source spectrally encoded scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and optical coherence tomography.

Scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO) benefits diagnostic imaging and therapeutic guidance by allowing for high-speed imaging of retinal structures. When combined with optical coherence tomography (OCT), SLO enables real-time aiming and retinal tracking and provides complementary information for post-acquisition volumetric co-registration, bulk motion compensation, and averaging. However, multimodality SLO-OCT systems generally require dedicated light sources, scanners, relay optics, detectors, and additional digitization and synchronization electronics, which increase system complexity.

Field assessment of dried Plasmodium falciparum samples for malaria rapid diagnostic test quality control and proficiency testing in Ethiopia.

Background: Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are now widely used for laboratory confirmation of suspected malaria cases to comply with the World Health Organization recommendation for universal testing before treatment. However, many malaria programmes lack quality control (QC) processes to assess RDT use under field conditions. Prior research showed the feasibility of using the dried tube specimen (DTS) method for preserving Plasmodium falciparum parasites for use as QC samples for RDTs.

A description of malaria sentinel surveillance: a case study in Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia.

Background: In the context of the massive scale up of malaria interventions, there is increasing recognition that the current capacity of routine malaria surveillance conducted in most African countries through integrated health management information systems is inadequate. The timeliness of reporting to higher levels of the health system through health management information systems is often too slow for rapid action on focal infectious diseases such as malaria. The purpose of this paper is to: 1) describe the implementation of a malaria sentinel surveillance system in Ethiopia to help fill this gap; 2) describe data use for epidemic detection and response as well as programmatic decision making; and 3) discuss lessons learned in the context of creating and running this system.

Perspectives from Ethiopia regarding U.S. military humanitarian assistance: how to build a better medical civil action project (MEDCAP).

Assuming that budgetary constraints continue over the next several years, the U.S. military's overseas medical activities including medical civic action projects (MEDCAPs) and humanitarian assistance projects could comprise an increasing proportion of the contributions of U.

In vivo efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine and chloroquine against Plasmodium vivax: a randomized open label trial in central Ethiopia.

Background: In vivo efficacy assessments of antimalarials are essential for ensuring effective case management. In Ethiopia, chloroquine (CQ) without primaquine is the first-line treatment for Plasmodium vivax in malarious areas, but artemether-lumefantrine (AL) is also commonly used.

Methods And Findings: In 2009, we conducted a 42-day efficacy study of AL or CQ for P.

In vivo efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine against uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Central Ethiopia.

Background: In vivo efficacy assessments of the first-line treatments for Plasmodium falciparum malaria are essential for ensuring effective case management. In Ethiopia, artemether-lumefantrine (AL) has been the first-line treatment for uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria since 2004.

Multiple sclerosis prevalence and possible lead exposure.

This study was conducted to estimate the current prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) in Jefferson County, Missouri, USA, and to address community concerns about a perceived excess of MS around an active lead smelter. The study population consisted of the residents of Jefferson County, Missouri between 1998 and 2002. An aggressive MS case finding with capture-recapture analysis was used.

Telephone survey to assess influenza-like illness, United States, 2006.

Although current national response plans assume that most influenza-infected patients would stay home during a pandemic, surveillance systems might be overwhelmed and unable to monitor their health status. We explored the feasibility of using a nationwide telephone survey to monitor at-home patients. Of randomly selected adults surveyed during low influenza activity months (April-October 2006, surveillance weeks 17-41), 86% (7,268/8,449) agreed to answer questions about health status and influenza-like illness symptoms.