Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic: What Can the World Learn and Not Learn from West Africa?

With over 4,500 deaths and counting, and new cases identified in two developed countries that are struggling and faltering in their handling of the epidemic, the 2014 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic is unlike any of its kind ever encountered. The ability of some poor, resource-limited, developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa to efficiently handle the epidemic within their shores provides some lessons learned for the global health community. Among others, the 2014 EVD epidemic teaches us that it is time to put the "P" back in public and population health around the world.

Global Health Donor Presence, Variations in HIV/AIDS Prevalence, and External Resources for Health in Developing Countries in Africa and Asia.

Objective: The presence of multiple global health aid organizations in donor recipient countries at any point in time has led to arguments for and against aid coordination and aid pluralism. Little data, however, exist to empirically demonstrate the relationship between donor presence and longitudinal disease outcomes in donor-recipient countries. We examined the association between global health donor presence and changes in HIV/AIDS prevalence in 14 developing countries: 12 in Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Burkina Faso and Mali) and compared them with two developing countries in Asia (India and Vietnam).

Cytotoxic effect of the red beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.) extract compared to doxorubicin (Adriamycin) in the human prostate (PC-3) and breast (MCF-7) cancer cell lines.

Previous cancer chemoprevention studies from our laboratories and by other investigators have demonstrated that the extract of red beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.), the FDA approved red food color E162, can be effective in suppressing the development of multi-organ tumors in experimental animals. To further explore this finding, we have compared the cytotoxic effect of the red beetroot extract with anticancer drug, doxorubicin (adriamycin) in the androgen-independent human prostate cancer cells (PC-3) and in the well-established estrogen receptor-positive human breast cancer cells (MCF-7).

Chemopreventive activities of etodolac and oxyphenbutazone against mouse skin carcinogenesis.

Previous cancer chemoprevention studies have demonstrated that the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can be effective in suppressing the development of various human malignancies. Recently we identified the possible anti-tumor promoting potentials of 14 new NSAIDs in the Epstein-Barr virus early antigen activation assay induced by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). In this study we report the inhibition of 7,12-dimethylbenz (a) anthracene (DMBA) induced two-stage mouse skin carcinogenesis by etodolac (ETD), one of the most potent NSAIDs identified in our in vitro cancer chemopreventive screening of this group of drugs.

Down-regulation of liver Galbeta1, 4GlcNAc alpha2, 6-sialyltransferase gene by ethanol significantly correlates with alcoholic steatosis in humans.

Hepatic steatosis and steatohepatitis are frequent results of long-term ethanol exposure. We have previously demonstrated that long-term ethanol down-regulates Galbetal, 4GlcNAc alpha2, 6-sialyltransferase (ST6Gal1), leading to defective glycosylation of a number of proteins including apolipoprotein (apo) E and apo J and the appearance of asialoconjugates in the blood of continuously alcohol-fed animals as well as in human alcoholics. In the current study, we have explored the possibility of whether ethanol-induced down-regulation of ST6Gal1 could contribute toward alcoholic steatosis in human alcoholics presumably because of impaired lipid and lipoprotein transport caused by this down-regulation.