Interventions aiming to eliminate catastrophic costs due to tuberculosis: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

People with tuberculosis disease and their household members may suffer direct out-of-pocket expenses and indirect costs of lost income. These tuberculosis-related costs can worsen poverty, make tuberculosis treatment completion unaffordable, impair quality of life and increase the risk of death. Costs due to tuberculosis are usually defined as catastrophic if they exceed 20% of the pre-disease annual household income.

Simplifying the detection and monitoring of protein glycosylation during in vitro glycoengineering.

The majority of mammalian proteins are glycosylated, with the glycans serving to modulate a wide range of biological activities. Variations in protein glycosylation can have dramatic effects on protein stability, immunogenicity, antibody effector function, pharmacological safety and potency, as well as serum half-life. The glycosylation of therapeutic biologicals is a critical quality attribute (CQA) that must be carefully monitored to ensure batch-to-batch consistency.

Social and health factors associated with adverse treatment outcomes among people with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Sierra Leone: a national, retrospective cohort study.

Background: Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a global health emergency. We aimed to evaluate treatment outcomes among people with MDR-TB in Sierra Leone and investigate social and health factors associated with adverse treatment outcomes.

Methods: This national, retrospective cohort study recruited all people notified with MDR-TB to the Sierra Leone National TB Programme, admitted to Lakka hospital (Lakka, Western Area Rural District, Freetown, Sierra Leone) between April, 2017, and September, 2019.

COVID-19, tuberculosis and poverty: preventing a perfect storm.

https://bit.ly/2LLgLgA

Quality of life, tuberculosis and treatment outcome; a case-control and nested cohort study.

Background: Global tuberculosis policy increasingly emphasises broad tuberculosis impacts and highlights the lack of evidence concerning tuberculosis-related quality of life (QOL).

Methods: Participants were recruited in 32 Peruvian communities between July 13, 2016 and February 24, 2018 and followed-up until November 8, 2019. Inclusion criteria were age ≥15 years for "patients" (n=1545) starting treatment for tuberculosis disease in health centres; "contacts" (n=3180) who shared a patient's household for ≥6 h·week; and randomly selected "controls" (n=277).

A household-level score to predict the risk of tuberculosis among contacts of patients with tuberculosis: a derivation and external validation prospective cohort study.

Background: The epidemiological impact and cost-effectiveness of social protection and biomedical interventions for tuberculosis-affected households might be improved by risk stratification. We therefore derived and externally validated a household-level risk score to predict tuberculosis among contacts of patients with tuberculosis.

Methods: In this prospective cohort study, we recruited tuberculosis-affected households from 15 desert shanty towns in Ventanilla and 17 urban communities in Callao, Lima, Peru.

Active and passive case-finding in tuberculosis-affected households in Peru: a 10-year prospective cohort study.

Background: Active case-finding among contacts of patients with tuberculosis is a global health priority, but the effects of active versus passive case-finding are poorly characterised. We assessed the contribution of active versus passive case-finding to tuberculosis detection among contacts and compared sex and disease characteristics between contacts diagnosed through these strategies.

Methods: In shanty towns in Callao, Peru, we identified index patients with tuberculosis and followed up contacts aged 15 years or older for tuberculosis.

Mobile phone interventions for tuberculosis should ensure access to mobile phones to enhance equity - a prospective, observational cohort study in Peruvian shantytowns.

Objectives: Mobile phone interventions have been advocated for tuberculosis care, but little is known about access of target populations to mobile phones. We studied mobile phone access among patients with tuberculosis, focusing on vulnerable patients and patients who later had adverse treatment outcomes.

Methods: In a prospective cohort study in Callao, Peru, we recruited and interviewed 2584 patients with tuberculosis between 2007 and 2013 and followed them until 2016 for adverse treatment outcomes using national treatment registers.

Socioeconomic and Behavioral Factors Associated with Tuberculosis Diagnostic Delay in Lima, Peru.

Early detection and diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) is a global priority. Prolonged symptom duration before TB diagnosis is associated with increased morbidity, mortality, and risk of transmission. We aimed to determine socioeconomic and behavioral factors associated with diagnostic delays among patients with TB.

Effectiveness of Protease Inhibitor/Nucleos(t)ide Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor-Based Second-line Antiretroviral Therapy for the Treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: In sub-Saharan Africa, 25.5 million people are living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), representing 70% of the global total. The need for second-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) is projected to increase in the next decade in keeping with the expansion of treatment provision.

Improving tuberculosis diagnosis: Better tests or better healthcare?

In a Perspective accompanying Sylvia and colleagues, Carlton Evans and colleagues discuss the challenge of squaring policies around tuberculosis diagnosis with the realities of clinical practice in small villages and low-resource settings.

Why wait? The social determinants underlying tuberculosis diagnostic delay.

Background: Early detection and diagnosis of tuberculosis remain major global priorities for tuberculosis control. Few studies have used a qualitative approach to investigate the social determinants contributing to diagnostic delay and none have compared data collected from individual, community, and health-system levels. We aimed to characterize the social determinants that contribute to diagnostic delay among persons diagnosed with tuberculosis living in resource-constrained settings.

A score to predict and stratify risk of tuberculosis in adult contacts of tuberculosis index cases: a prospective derivation and external validation cohort study.

Background: Contacts of tuberculosis index cases are at increased risk of developing tuberculosis. Screening, preventive therapy, and surveillance for tuberculosis are underused interventions in contacts, particularly adults. We developed a score to predict risk of tuberculosis in adult contacts of tuberculosis index cases.

A randomized controlled study of socioeconomic support to enhance tuberculosis prevention and treatment, Peru.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of socioeconomic support on tuberculosis preventive therapy initiation in household contacts of tuberculosis patients and on treatment success in patients.

Methods: A non-blinded, household-randomized, controlled study was performed between February 2014 and June 2015 in 32 shanty towns in Peru. It included patients being treated for tuberculosis and their household contacts.

Beyond pills and tests: addressing the social determinants of tuberculosis.

Poverty drives tuberculosis (TB) rates but the approach to TB control has been disproportionately biomedical. In 2015, the World Health Organization's End TB Strategy explicitly identified the need to address the social determinants of TB through socio-economic interventions. However, evidence concerning poverty reduction and cost mitigation strategies is limited.

Local retention of antibodies in vivo with an injectable film embedded with a fluorogen-activating protein.

Herein we report an injectable film by which antibodies can be localized in vivo. The system builds upon a bifunctional polypeptide consisting of a fluorogen-activating protein (FAP) and a β-fibrillizing peptide (βFP). The FAP domain generates fluorescence that reflects IgG binding sites conferred by Protein A/G (pAG) conjugated with the fluorogen malachite green (MG).

Stereodivergent synthesis of the LFA-1 antagonist BIRT-377 by porcine liver esterase desymmetrization and Curtius rearrangement.

The LFA-1 inhibitor and leukocyte adhesion suppressor BIRT-377 was prepared in high enantiomeric excess by desymmetrization of dimethyl 2-p-bromobenzyl-2-methylmalonate, followed by condensation of the resulting carboxylic acid with 3,5-dichloroaniline, saponification of the remaining ester and Curtius rearrangement as the key steps. When Curtius rearrangement preceded the condensation step, (ent)-BIRT-377 was similarly obtained in high ee.

A bifunctional converter: fluorescein quenching scFv/fluorogen activating protein for photostability and improved signal to noise in fluorescence experiments.

Monoclonal antibodies are one of the most useful and ubiquitous affinity reagents used in the biological sciences. Immunostaining of fixed and live cells for microscopy or cytometry measurements frequently employs fluorescently labeled antibodies, in particular fluorescein-labeled antibodies. This dye emits light at a wavelength overlapping with cellular autofluorescence, making it difficult to measure antibody binding to proteins of relatively low copy number or in cells of high green autofluorescence.