A cluster randomized trial of xylitol chewing gum for prevention of preterm birth: The PPaX trial.

Background: Maternal periodontal disease is associated with preterm and low-birthweight deliveries, but randomized trials of likely efficacious treatments (e.g., dental scaling and root planing) during pregnancy have not reduced these adverse outcomes.

Assessing language barriers in health facilities in Malawi.

Background: Language barriers in healthcare lead to miscommunication between professionals and patients, thereby reducing the quality of and equitable access to healthcare. In African countries, the recognition and formal study of these barriers is severely limited despite Africa having more languages than any other continent. Our study investigates language barriers in healthcare facilities in Zomba district in Malawi, where three major local languages are spoken.

Pediatric HIV+ Kaposi sarcoma exhibits clinical, virological, and molecular features different from the adult disease.

BACKGROUNDKaposi sarcoma (KS) is among the most common childhood cancers in Eastern and Central Africa. Pediatric KS has a distinctive clinical presentation compared with adult KS, which includes a tendency for primary lymph node involvement, a considerable proportion of patients lacking cutaneous lesions, and a potential for fulminant disease. The molecular mechanisms or correlates for these disease features are unknown.

Where there is no local author: a network bibliometric analysis of authorship parasitism among research conducted in sub-Saharan Africa.

Introduction: Authorship parasitism (ie, no authors affiliated with the country in which the study took place) occurs frequently in research conducted in low-income and middle-income countries, despite published recommendations defining authorship criteria. The objective was to compare characteristics of articles exhibiting authorship parasitism in sub-Saharan Africa to articles with author representation from sub-Saharan African countries.

Methods: A bibliometric review of articles indexed in PubMed published from January 2014 through December 2018 reporting research conducted in sub-Saharan Africa was performed.

Long-term outcomes for children and adolescents with Kaposi sarcoma.

Objectives: Kaposi sarcoma (KS) is one of the most common childhood cancers in eastern and central Africa. It has become a treatable disease with increasing availability of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and chemotherapy. We aimed to fill the data gap in establishing whether long-term survival is achievable for children in low-income countries.