Protection by natural cholera against later episodes of cholera over 10 years of follow-up in Matlab, Bangladesh: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Patients with cholera have been shown to be protected against subsequent cholera for 3 years after their initial episode. We aimed to assess protection at 10 years of follow-up.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, cohorts of patients treated for cholera (index patients) and contemporaneously selected age-matched individuals without cholera (controls), randomly selected from the population of Matlab, Bangladesh, were assembled between 1990 and 2009 and followed for up to 10 years.

Effect of low-cost kitchen with improved cookstove on birthweight of neonates in Shahjadpur, Bangladesh: a cluster-randomised controlled trial.

Background: Smoke from biomass fuels used for cooking in traditional cookstoves contains a variety of health-damaging pollutants. Inhalation of these pollutants by pregnant women has been linked to abnormal foetal development and adverse pregnancy outcomes, including low birthweight (LBW). There is a dearth of data on environmental interventions that have the potential to reduce exposure to biomass fuel during pregnancy and improve birth outcomes.

Ectopic Expression of a Truncated Isoform of Hair Keratin 81 in Breast Cancer Alters Biophysical Characteristics to Promote Metastatic Propensity.

Keratins are an integral part of cell structure and function. Here, it is shown that ectopic expression of a truncated isoform of keratin 81 (tKRT81) in breast cancer is upregulated in metastatic lesions compared to primary tumors and patient-derived circulating tumor cells, and is associated with more aggressive subtypes. tKRT81 physically interacts with keratin 18 (KRT18) and leads to changes in the cytosolic keratin intermediate filament network and desmosomal plaque formation.

Visual Processing Impairment in Children With Suspected Auditory Processing Disorder: A Transdisciplinary Dimensional Approach to Diagnosis.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the utility of impairment(s) in language (LI), manual dexterity (IMD), and visual perceptual skills (IVPS) as a reference standard for diagnosing auditory processing disorder (APD).

Method: Data from 104 participants with suspected APD (males = 57, females = 47; 6-16 years) were retrospectively analyzed. Index auditory processing (AP) tests included Auditory Figure Ground 0 dB, Competing Words-Directed Ear (CW-DE), and Time-Compressed Sentences (TCS).

Disease characteristics and serological responses in patients with differing severity of COVID-19 infection: A longitudinal cohort study in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Background: COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 ranges from asymptomatic to severe disease and can cause fatal and devastating outcome in many cases. In this study, we have compared the clinical, biochemical and immunological parameters across the different disease spectrum of COVID-19 in Bangladeshi patients.

Methodology/principal Findings: This longitudinal study was conducted in two COVID-19 hospitals and also around the community in Dhaka city in Bangladesh between November 2020 to March 2021.

Re-evaluation of population-level protection conferred by a rotavirus vaccine using the 'fried-egg' approach in a rural setting in Bangladesh.

Background: Vaccine herd protection assessed in a cluster-randomized trial (CRT) may be masked by disease transmission into the cluster from outside. However, herd effects can be unmasked using a 'fried-egg' approach whereby the analysis, restricted to the innermost households of clusters, 'yolk', creates an insulating 'egg-white' periphery. This approach has been demonstrated to unmask vaccine herd protection in reanalyses of cholera and typhoid vaccine CRTs.

Protection by vaccination of children against typhoid fever with a Vi-tetanus toxoid conjugate vaccine in urban Bangladesh: a cluster-randomised trial.

Background: Typhoid fever remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in low-income and middle-income countries. Vi-tetanus toxoid conjugate vaccine (Vi-TT) is recommended by WHO for implementation in high-burden countries, but there is little evidence about its ability to protect against clinical typhoid in such settings.

Methods: We did a participant-masked and observer-masked cluster-randomised trial preceded by a safety pilot phase in an urban endemic setting in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Can cholera 'hotspots' be converted to cholera 'coldspots' in cholera endemic countries? The Matlab, Bangladesh experience.

Background: Cholera remains a major public health threat in low- and middle-income countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently launched a global initiative to end preventable cholera by 2030. Key to the success of this initiative will be the elimination of cholera transmission in cholera 'hotspots' with regularly recurrent disease; this can be achieved via improved surveillance to define hotspot populations, through the use of oral cholera vaccines, and through the implementation of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH).

Re-evaluating herd protection by Vi typhoid vaccine in a cluster randomized trial.

Background: In a cluster randomized trial (CRT) of a Vi polysaccharide vaccine against typhoid in the slums of Kolkata we found evidence of vaccine herd protection. However, transmission of typhoid into clusters from the outside likely occurred in this densely populated setting, which could have diminished our estimates of vaccine herd protection.

Methods: Eighty clusters (40 in each arm) were randomised to receive a single dose of either Vi or inactivated hepatitis A vaccine.

Tuberculosis in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients.

The tubercular infections (TB) are most important cause of morbidity and mortality in SLE patients worldwide and an ongoing alarming issue in developing countries. This observational study was carried out in SLE clinic of BSMMU, Bangladesh from April 2015 to March 2016 after taking ethical clearance from IRB to observe frequency and risk factors of tuberculosis in SLE patients. A total 230 consecutive SLE patients were enrolled.

Unmasking herd protection by an oral cholera vaccine in a cluster-randomized trial.

Background: Several studies have shown that inactivated, whole-cell oral cholera vaccines (OCVs) confer both direct protection on vaccinees and herd protection on populations. Because our earlier cluster-randomized effectiveness trial (CRT) in urban Bangladesh failed to detect OCV herd protection, we reanalysed the trial to assess whether herd effects were masked in our original analysis.

Methods: A total of 267 270 persons were randomized to 90 approximately equal-sized clusters.

Polyarthritis is a Rare Manifestation of Pachydermoperiostosis: A Case Report.

Pachydermoperiostosis or primary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy, also known as Touraine-Solente-Gole syndrome, is a rare process, frequently inherited. In its complete form it is characterized by pachydermia (thickening of the skin), skeletal changes (periostosis) and acropachia (digital clubbing). Diagnosis can be made considering the typical clinical features and the histological feature.