The quality of material care provided by grandparents for their orphaned grandchildren in the context of HIV/AIDS and poverty: a study of Kopanong municipality, Free State.

A pervasive argument in the literature on AIDS orphans in South Africa is that grandparents, who often care for their orphaned grandchildren, lack the material means to provide adequate care. This study investigated that claim in an area of ubiquitous poverty and very high unemployment. It is based on the analysis of data obtained from two surveys carried out by the HSRC in the semi-rural municipality of Kopanong in the Free State.

Assessment of requirements for IL-15 and IFN regulatory factors in uterine NK cell differentiation and function during pregnancy.

In mouse and human, precursors of NK cell lineage home to decidualizing uteri. To assess the requirement for IL-15, an essential cytokine for NK differentiation in lymphoid tissue, on uterine NK (uNK) cell differentiation, implantation sites from IL-15(-/-) mice were analyzed histologically. IL-15(-/-) implantation sites had no uNK cells, no spiral-artery modification, and lacked the decidual integrity found in normal mice.

Umbilical vein interleukin-6 levels correlate with the severity of placental inflammation and gestational age.

Interleukin-6 (IL6) and suppurating placental inflammation are markers of neonatal sepsis. The purpose of this study was to define a relationship between IL6 and acute chorioamnionitis and funisitis of the placenta, and to compare IL6 levels in term and preterm neonates. Umbilical venous IL6 was measured in 137 term and 110 preterm neonates.