Tri-trophic insecticidal effects of African plants against cabbage pests.

Botanical insecticides are increasingly attracting research attention as they offer novel modes of action that may provide effective control of pests that have already developed resistance to conventional insecticides. They potentially offer cost-effective pest control to smallholder farmers in developing countries if highly active extracts can be prepared simply from readily available plants. Field cage and open field experiments were conducted to evaluate the insecticidal potential of nine common Ghanaian plants: goat weed, Ageratum conyzoides (Asteraceae), Siam weed, Chromolaena odorata (Asteraceae), Cinderella weed, Synedrella nodiflora (Asteraceae), chili pepper, Capsicum frutescens (Solanaceae), tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum (Solanaceae) cassia, Cassia sophera (Leguminosae), physic nut, Jatropha curcas (Euphorbiaceae), castor oil plant, Ricinus communis (Euphorbiaceae) and basil, Ocimum gratissimum (Lamiaceae).

HIV Prevalence Comparison Between Antenatal Sentinel Surveillance and Demographic and Health Survey in Rwanda.

Objective: To compare HIV prevalence from antenatal surveillance to that of the demographic and health survey (DHS), and to identify factors determining the difference of HIV prevalence between women recruited in these two surveys in Rwanda in 2005.

Methods: Comparative cross-sectional study of HIV prevalence and socio-demographic factors collected by the antenatal survey in 13,745 pregnant women, seen in 30 health centres located throughout the country and those collected by the DHS among 5641 women, aged 15-49 years living in households located throughout the country. Log-binomial regression and direct standardization were used to estimate and compare HIV prevalence between the two surveys.

Arterial wave reflection in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected Rwandan women.

To assess differences in arterial wave reflection, a marker of atherosclerosis, in HIV-positive and HIV-negative Rwandan women, applanation tonometry was performed on 276 HIV(+) and 67 HIV(-) participants. Radial artery pressure waveforms were recorded and central aortic waveforms were derived by validated transfer function. Central augmentation index (C-AI), central pulse pressure (C-PP), and peripheral augmentation index (P-AI) were measured.

Carbon dioxide extraction of residual solvents in poly(lactide-co-glycolide) microparticles.

A process for the reduction of residual solvents in spray-dried poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA)-darbepoetin alfa microparticles was developed using carbon dioxide (CO(2)) as an extraction solvent. CO(2) was investigated in two phase states, liquid and gas. Detrimental effects on encapsulated protein integrity and microparticle morphology were observed with liquid CO(2) exposure.