Publications by authors named "Kasakula Kaunda"

Objectives: Neurocritical illnesses occur disproportionately in countries with limited health care capacity. Identifying risk factors of reversible neurodeterioration may improve care in resource-limited settings. We investigated whether early neurodeterioration (END) predicted inpatient mortality at a resource-limited Zambian hospital.

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Background: Inadequate maternal dietary intakes remain a public health challenge in low-income countries like Malawi and can cause adverse birth outcomes.

Objectives: To improve maternal dietary intakes and thus reduce the prevalence of adverse birth outcomes in rural Malawi.

Methods: We performed a 2-armed (1:1) cluster-randomized controlled trial in Southern Malawi, enrolling pregnant women at gestational age 12-18 wk.

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Background: Anaemia is common in mothers and infants in the first year postpartum, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. We evaluated whether treating anaemia in the second trimester of pregnancy with a single dose of intravenous iron, ferric carboxymaltose, compared with standard-of-care oral iron could alleviate anaemia in postpartum women and their infants.

Methods: REVAMP (ACTRN12618001268235), an open-label, individually randomised, controlled trial done across nine urban and five rural health centres in Malawi, recruited women if they were in the second trimester of singleton pregnancy, had a capillary haemoglobin concentration of less than 10·0 g/dL, and had a negative malaria rapid diagnostic test.

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Introduction: Ventriculoperitoneal shunt insertion (VPSI) and endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) are the major procedures for treating pediatric hydrocephalus. However, studies comparing motor development following the two treatments are limited.

Objective: We aimed to determine motor development outcomes in children with hydrocephalus up to 2 years of age after undergoing VPSI or ETV, to identify which surgical approach yields better motor outcomes and may be more effective for Malawian children.

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Objective: To study constituents of the leaves of , and evaluate their inhibitory effects against NOD-like receptor thermal protein domain associated protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation, and antiproliferative activity.

Methods: The constituents were isolated and purified by column chromatography on MCI gel CHP20P/P120, silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, and HPLC. The structures of compounds were determined by 1D, 2D NMR, and HR-ESI-MS data.

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Miscarriages, stillbirths and neonatal deaths have received limited attention in global health programmes and research, even though pregnancy loss is common, traumatic and stigmatised. This paper seeks to illuminate lived experiences of pregnancy loss in southern Malawi, drawing on findings from semi-structured interviews and focus groups with women who have experienced loss, health professionals and community members, and observations of maternity care. Combining thematic and discourse analysis, we show how societal and medical discourses frame women as responsible for (failed) reproduction, and restrict possibilities to speak about, and respond to, loss.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study analyzed the safety and COVID-19 incidence of the AZD1222 vaccine in Botswana over nearly a year, involving more than 10,000 participants.
  • It included different groups based on vaccination series and compared the incidence of adverse events between those with and without prior COVID-19 infection.
  • The results showed no severe COVID-19 cases or deaths, mostly mild adverse events, and suggested that AZD1222 is effective regardless of HIV status.
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Cholera is endemic in many African countries with recurrent seasonal outbreaks in parts of the region. Malawi has been experiencing seasonal outbreaks of Cholera since 1998, and it is one of the major public health problems. The current cholera outbreak is one of Malawi's worst cholera outbreaks in the past 10 years.

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Aquatic foods are critical for food and nutrition security in Malawi, but it is unclear which populations benefit from different aquatic foods and what factors shape food access. Spatial analysis of food flows across value chains from Lake Malawi to domestic consumers shows that usipa (Engraulicypris sardella) reaches more consumers than chambo (Oreochromis karongae) across all Malawi districts, particularly rural populations. Higher number of markets, nutrient content, and overall supply coupled with lower retail prices and volumes make usipa more accessible to consumers than chambo.

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Despite the fact that many coinfections in people with HIV (PWH) are treatable or suppressible, they may still impact neurocognitive (NC) functioning. Here, we aim to evaluate the presence of latent/treated coinfections and their association with NC functioning in a cohort of PWH in Zambia. We carried out a cross-sectional, nested study involving 151 PWH with viral suppression, and a normative sample of 324 adults without HIV.

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This paper explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to mitigate it on gender dynamics and power relations among men and women involved in cross border fish trade in Zambia and Malawi and the ensuing policy implications to support the fisheries value chain. The paper is based on qualitative and quantitative data collected in Zambia and Malawi in October and November 2021. We conducted quantitative surveys implemented the Cognitive Edge Sensemaker Tool and the Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis toolkit (EMMA to understand the dynamics of cross border fish trade before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Ten new flavonoids, called denticulains A-J, were discovered in the plant Macaranga denticulata, along with seven previously known flavonoids.
  • - The structures of these compounds were determined using advanced techniques and by comparing them with existing data.
  • - Two specific compounds (denticulain A and another known flavonoid) showed the ability to inhibit cancer cell growth in lab tests, with respective IC values of 46.08 μM and 56.83 μM.
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Poverty and food insecurity persist in sub-Saharan Africa. We conducted a secondary analysis of nationally representative data from three sub-Saharan Africa countries (Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda) to investigate how both proximity to and engagement with small-scale fisheries are associated with household poverty and food insecurity. Results from the analysis suggest that households engaged in small-scale fisheries were 9 percentage points less likely to be poor than households engaged only in agriculture.

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Background: Pellagra is caused by niacin (vitamin B3) deficiency and patients with pellagra present with a characteristic rash. Isoniazid disrupts intracellular niacin synthesis and might induce niacin deficiency. In 2017, Malawi scaled up continuous isoniazid preventive treatment (IPT) for tuberculosis prevention among people living with HIV.

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Article Synopsis
  • * These compounds showed varying inhibitory effects on SARS-CoV-2 main protease, with specific compounds demonstrating significant potency against the virus.
  • * Additionally, most compounds exhibited anti-inflammatory properties by inhibiting key inflammatory markers, suggesting their potential for COVID-19 treatment.
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Lake Malombe is ranked among the most vulnerable inland freshwater shallow lakes in Malawi. The lake has lost over US$79.83 million ecosystem service values from 1999 to 2019 due to rapid population growth, increased poverty, landscape transformation, and over exploitation-hampering the effort to achieve United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular, life underwater (SDG 14), life on land (SDG 15), climate action (SDG 13), and no poverty (SDG 1) and Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

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Patient referrals among health facilities are initiated to maximize receipt of quality care at a proper level within the health system. This study explored the processes, factors that influence, and strategies for referral of children from Ndirande Health Centre to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi. We drew a purposive sample comprising health care workers, mothers, fathers, ambulance drivers, and Health Center Advisory Committee (HCAC) members and held 19 in-depth interviews and 1 focus group discussion in August 2020.

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Mining and mineral processing continues to be a source of lasting environmental problems in many developing economies. Phytoremediation has proven to be a viable strategy to remediate contaminated lands and limit environmental damage, but it has not been widely implemented partially due to social and economic challenges. However, by encouraging phytoremediation with a focus on phytoextraction, it may be possible to rehabilitate contaminated lands while simultaneously providing economic support to local communities.

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Lake Malombe ecosystem provides a vast range of services that are vital for the sustenance of the riparian communities. Understanding land use and land cover (LULC) dynamics, as well as the associated impacts on the multiple ecosystem service value (ESV), is extremely important in decision-making processes and effective implementation of an ecosystem-based management approach. This study analyzed the LULC dynamics from 1989 to 2019.

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This article argues that poetic inquiry is a valuable method for unmasking the interior religious experiences of African closeted queer clergy. It demonstrates how poetic inquiry could function as analytic tool for the decolonisation, reclamation, reinsertion and reconstitution of the closeted queer cleric's belonging in African religio-cultural spaces in which their sexualities are been exorcised and alienated. It also makes visible the ongoing complexities of closeted queer clergy and the processes of interrogating their faith tensions through negotiating and subverting ecclesiastical and cultural alienations.

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Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILCs) are a type of informal microfinance mechanism adapted in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to improve financial resources for poor and rural communities. Although SILCs are often paired with other health and non-health-related interventions, few studies have examined SILCs in the context of maternal health. This study examined the association between SILC participation, household wealth and financial preparedness for birth.

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Three previously undescribed pyridyl-steroidal glycoalkaloids, solanindiosides A‒C, one rare 23S,26R-hydroxylated spirostanoid saponin, and two steroidal alkaloid aglycones, solanindins A and B, derived from the acid hydrolysis of solanindiosides A‒C, were isolated from the fruits of Solanum violaceum, together with five known analogues, including two rare steroidal glycosides, two lignans and a diterpene. Structurally, they comprise a 16β-methoxy-23-deoxy-22,26-epimino-cholest-type skeleton moiety, and a 16β-methoxy-3,23-dideoxy-22,26-epimino-cholest-3,5-dien derivative. The hitherto undescribed structures were established on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analyses.

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