Engagement of private health care facilities in TB management in Lusaka district of Zambia: lessons learned and achievements.

Background: Globally, at least 3 million TB patients are missed every year. In Zambia, the TB treatment coverage increased from 66% in 2020 to 92% in 2022. Involvement of all levels of health care service delivery is critical to finding all the missing TB patients.

The selection and validation of reference genes for quantitative real-time PCR studies in near-isogenic susceptible and resistant tomato lines, infected with the geminivirus tomato curly stunt virus.

Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) is a sensitive and commonly used technique for gene expression profiling and provides insight into biological systems. Successful qPCR requires the use of appropriate reference genes for the normalization of data. In the present study, we aimed to identify and assess the best-suited reference genes in near-isogenic resistant (R) and susceptible (S) tomato lines infected with begomovirus Tomato curly stunt virus (ToCSV).

Breakthrough TB among people living with HIV on TB preventive therapy.

Background: Zambia has an estimated TB incidence of 319/100,000 population and a HIV prevalence of 11.1%. In 2020, only 49% of new people living with HIV (PLHIV) received TB preventive therapy (TPT) in Zambia.

Undernotification and underreporting of tuberculosis in Zambia: a national data quality assessment.

Background: Despite national implementation of several high impact interventions and innovations to bolster tuberculosis (TB) detection and improve quality of TB services in Zambia, notifications have been declining since 2004. A countrywide data quality assessment (DQA) of Zambia's National TB and Leprosy Programme (NTLP) was undertaken to quantify the degree to which undernotification and underreporting of TB notifications may be occurring.

Methods: The NTLP conducted a retrospective DQA of health facilities in high burden districts in all ten Zambian provinces.

Performance of Xpert MTB/RIF and Determine™ TB-LAM Ag in HIV-infected adults in peri-urban sites in Zambia.

Setting: Peri-urban health facilities providing HIV and TB care in Zambia.

Objective: To evaluate 1) the impact of Xpert MTB/RIF on time-to-diagnosis, treatment initiation, and outcomes among adult people living with HIV (PLHIV) on antiretroviral therapy (ART); and 2) the diagnostic performance of Xpert and Determine™ TB-LAM Ag assays.

Design: Quasi-experimental study design with the first cohort evaluated per standard-of-care (SOC; first sputum tested using smear microscopy) and the second cohort per an algorithm using Xpert as initial test (intervention phase; IP).

Real-time PCR data for reference candidate gene selection in tomato infected with Tomato curly stunt virus.

Real-time PCR (qPCR) is a useful and robust method of quantifying gene expression, provided that suitable reference genes are used to normalize the data. To date, suitable reference genes have not been validated for tomato gene expression changes in response to Tomato curly stunt virus (ToCSV). RT-qPCR was conducted on resistent (R) and susceptible (S) tomato leave tissue infected with ToCSV at 35 days post infection.

Nitric oxide associated protein 1 is associated with chloroplast perturbation and disease symptoms in Nicotiana benthamiana infected with South African cassava mosaic virus.

Nitric oxide associated 1 (NOA1) in plants is a cyclic GTPase involved in protein translation in the chloroplast and has been indirectly linked to nitric oxide (NO) accumulation and response to biotic stress. The association between NOA1 and NO accumulation in Arabidopsis noa1 mutants has been linked to the inability of noa1 mutants to accumulate carbon reserves such as fumarate, leading to chloroplast dysfunction and a pale green leaf phenotype. To understand the role played by NOA1 in response to South African cassava mosaic virus infection in Nicotiana benthamiana, the expression of NbNOA1 and the accumulation of NO in leaf samples was compared between south african cassava mosaic (SACMV)-infected and mock-infected plants at 14 and 28 dpi.