Levofloxacin Preventive Treatment in Children Exposed to MDR Tuberculosis.

Background: Worldwide, approximately 2 million children younger than 15 years of age are infected with multidrug-resistant (MDR) , with MDR tuberculosis developing in approximately 30,000 annually. Evidence from randomized, controlled trials on tuberculosis preventive treatment in persons exposed to MDR tuberculosis is lacking.

Methods: In this community-based, multisite, double-blind, cluster-randomized, placebo-controlled trial in South Africa, we assessed the efficacy and safety of levofloxacin as preventive treatment in children with household exposure to an adult with bacteriologically confirmed MDR pulmonary tuberculosis.

Opportunities to improve feedback to reduce blood component wastage: Results of a national scheme evaluation.

Background: Blood components are costly and scarce. The Blood Stocks Management Scheme (BSMS) was established in the United Kingdom (UK) to support hospital transfusion services and national blood services through collection, analysis, and monthly feedback of data on blood component inventory and wastage management. There is a growing evidence base on how best to deliver feedback for quality improvement.

Bedaquiline-pretomanid-moxifloxacin-pyrazinamide for drug-sensitive and drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis treatment: a phase 2c, open-label, multicentre, partially randomised controlled trial.

Background: The current tuberculosis (TB) drug development pipeline is being re-populated with candidates, including nitroimidazoles such as pretomanid, that exhibit a potential to shorten TB therapy by exerting a bactericidal effect on non-replicating bacilli. Based on results from preclinical and early clinical studies, a four-drug combination of bedaquiline, pretomanid, moxifloxacin, and pyrazinamide (BPaMZ) regimen was identified with treatment-shortening potential for both drug-susceptible (DS) and drug-resistant (DR) TB. This trial aimed to determine the safety and efficacy of BPaMZ.

Effects of Lead (Pb) from Smelter Operations in an Urban Terrestrial Food Chain at a Colorado Superfund Site.

Lead (Pb) is ubiquitous in urban environments, and it is a risk factor for wildlife. But wildlife are particularly at risk for exposure near smelters in urban areas where higher than safe Pb levels in the soil have the potential to transfer to the food chain. Therefore, we investigated whether wildlife are at risk of Pb exposure and differences in Pb bioaccumulation in trophic levels at a Superfund site in an urban area of Colorado.

The fundamentals of fibroblast growth factor 9.

Fibroblast growth factor 9 (FGF9) was first identified during a screen for factors acting on cells of the central nervous system (CNS). Research over the subsequent two decades has revealed this protein to be a critically important and elegantly regulated growth factor. A hallmark control feature is reciprocal compartmentalization, particularly during development, with epithelium as a dominant source and mesenchyme a prime target.