Use of routinely collected blood donation data for expanded HIV and Syphilis surveillance in Blantyre district, Malawi.

The World Health Organization recommends that all blood donations be screened for transfusion transmissible infections; these data are currently not incorporated into national disease surveillance efforts. We set out to use routinely collected data from blood donors in Blantyre district, Malawi to explore HIV and syphilis prevalence and identify sero-conversions among repeat donors. We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of blood donation data collected by the Malawi Blood Transfusion Service from 2015 to 2021.

Accumulation of Parabens, Their Metabolites, and Halogenated Byproducts in Migratory Birds of Prey: A Comparative Study in Texas and North Carolina, USA.

Parabens are alkyl esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid that are commonly used as preservatives in personal care products such as cosmetics. Recent studies have revealed the presence of parabens in surface and tap water because of their use as disinfection products; however, little is known about their occurrence in biological samples and their bioaccumulation potential, particularly in raptor birds known as sentinels for pollutant detection. We examined the occurrence and tissue distribution of parabens, their metabolites, and halogenated byproducts in the liver, kidney, brain, and muscle of birds of prey from Texas and North Carolina (USA).

Characterizing HIV Acquisition Risk, Treatment Gaps, and Populations Reached Through Venue-Based Outreach and Clinical Services in Blantyre, Malawi: Findings From a District-wide CLOVE Study.

Background: In 2017, Blantyre district had the highest adult HIV prevalence in Malawi (17.7%) and lowest viral suppression (60%). In response, the Ministry of Health expanded prevention and treatment services.

Selective targeting of IRAK1 attenuates low molecular weight hyaluronic acid-induced stemness and non-canonical STAT3 activation in epithelial ovarian cancer.

Advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) survival rates are dishearteningly low, with ~25% surviving beyond 5 years. Evidence suggests that cancer stem cells contribute to acquired chemoresistance and tumor recurrence. Here, we show that IRAK1 is upregulated in EOC tissues, and enhanced expression correlates with poorer overall survival.

Effects of monovalent and divalent cations on the rheology of entangled DNA.

In this paper we investigate the effects of varying cation valency and concentration on the rheology of entangled DNA solutions. We show that monovalent cations moderately increase the viscoelasticty of the solutions mainly by stabilising linear concatenation of DNA "monomers" hybridisation of their sticky ends. On the contrary, divalent cations have a far more complex and dramatic effect on the rheology of the solution and we observe evidence of inter-molecular DNA-DNA bridging by Mg.