Publications by authors named "Samuels A"

Background: In western Kenya, a cluster-randomized trial is assessing the impact of attractive targeted sugar baits (ATSBs) on malaria in children enrolled in three consecutive cohorts. Here, characteristics of children and households at enrolment, and factors associated with baseline malaria prevalence are described.

Methods: Children aged 1 to < 15 years were randomly selected by cluster (n = 70) from a census database.

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Background: UK Asian and black patients experience longer cancer diagnostic intervals - period between initial symptomatic presentation in primary care and cancer diagnosis.

Aim: To determine whether these differences are due to prolonged primary care intervals (period between first primary care presentation and secondary care referral), referral interval (period between referral and first secondary-care appointment) or secondary care interval (period between the first secondary care appointment and diagnosis).

Design And Setting: We conducted a cohort study of patients with seven common cancers (breast, lung, prostate, colorectal, oesophagogastric, myeloma, and ovarian), diagnosed after presenting symptoms in English primary care.

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Purpose: Contact lens behaviours such as poor hand and lens hygiene are common and are associated with increased risk of microbial keratitis. Evidence for health promotion strategies to address this gap is required. The trial examined the effectiveness of a customised text-messaging intervention on compliance, discontinuation rate and wearer satisfaction in contact lens wearers.

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Background: Approaches for determining whether influenza vaccination prevents infection, attenuates illness, or both, are important for developing improved vaccines. We estimated influenza infection incidence, and evaluated symptom ascertainment methodologies in children to inform future vaccine trial design.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study among children aged 6-23 months from May-October 2022.

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Purpose: To evaluate the shear bond strength (SBS) of resin composite to dentin contaminated with artificial saliva (AS) containing mucin and amylase using an experimental method controlling the volume of saliva and adhesive in a defined surface area.

Methods: Flat bonding surfaces were prepared on extracted human molars (320 grit surface). Using adhesive tape, a 4.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study evaluated the effectiveness of two COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer BNT162b2 and Johnson & Johnson Ad26.COV2.S) in preventing hospitalizations in South African adults during different SARS-CoV-2 variants.
  • It included 925 cases (hospitalized) and 1890 controls (not hospitalized), analyzing their vaccination status and disease outcomes from June 2021 to March 2022.
  • Results showed that BNT162b2 had high effectiveness against hospitalizations during the Delta variant wave, particularly in older and HIV-uninfected adults, while the effectiveness of Ad26.COV2.S was inconclusive.
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Lymphoma & Myeloproliferative Disease.

Vet Clin North Am Equine Pract

December 2024

Lymphoma and myeloproliferative diseases in horses are relatively uncommon. The clinical signs, prognosis, and treatment options depend upon the anatomic location and subtype. Significant gaps in knowledge remain regarding prevalence, pathogenesis of different subtypes, antemortem diagnostic tests, response to treatment, and standardized treatment protocols.

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Cellulose is a critical component of secondary cell walls (CWs) and woody tissues of plants. Cellulose synthase (CESA) complexes (CSCs) produce cellulose as they move within the plasma membrane, extruding glucan chains into the CW that coalesce and often crystallize into cellulose fibrils. Here we examine COBRA-LIKE4 (COBL4), a GPI-anchored protein on the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane that is required for normal cellulose deposition in secondary CWs.

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Article Synopsis
  • Acute febrile illness (AFI) is frequently misattributed to malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa, but a variety of pathogens can cause fever, emphasizing the need for better understanding and management of AFI.
  • A study across four sites in Kenya from June 2017 to March 2019 enrolled over 3,200 AFI cases, primarily among children under 5, finding that 4.3% resulted in hospital fatalities and that many cases had undetermined causes.
  • Identification of pathogens revealed malaria (Plasmodium) as the most common, while HIV and chikungunya were also detected; the results highlight the importance of improved diagnostics to address both malaria and non-malarial fever causes effectively.
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Background: Over 8 million children with disabilities live in Africa and are candidates for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), yet formal training for team members, such as speech-language therapists and special education teachers, is extremely limited. Only one university on the continent provides postgraduate degrees in AAC, and other institutions provide only short modules at an undergraduate level. The need for an introductory training course on AAC that is accessible by university students continent-wide was identified.

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Objectives: To review recruitment and retention strategies of randomized family-centered interventional studies in adult ICUs.

Data Sources: The MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Library database from inception to February 2023.

Study Selection: Randomized controlled trials with family-centered interventions in the ICU setting that reported at least one family-centered outcome that were included in our previously published systematic review.

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  • The RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine was tested for its effectiveness in a study involving 1,500 children aged 5-17 months in Ghana and Kenya, focusing on different dosing regimens.
  • Four different groups received the vaccine in varying full and fractional doses, while a control group got a rabies vaccine.
  • Results showed all RTS,S/AS01 regimens provided similar vaccine efficacy (25-43%) against new malaria infections, significantly reducing the number of infections over a 20-month follow-up period.
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  • - The study aimed to identify risk factors for severe COVID-19 hospitalization among children aged 18 and younger by analyzing data from surveillance sites between April 2020 and March 2022
  • - Among 4688 participants, certain risk factors were found: children under 6 months old, those with underlying medical conditions, infections with specific COVID-19 variants, and co-infection with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) were more likely to be hospitalized
  • - The findings highlight the importance of age and underlying health issues in assessing the risk of severe respiratory illnesses due to COVID-19 in children, suggesting that ongoing surveillance can effectively monitor these risks.
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  • The RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine was launched in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi in 2019 to evaluate its feasibility, impact, and safety after concerns about potential health risks emerged during earlier trials.
  • A prospective evaluation involved randomly assigning 158 geographical clusters to receive the vaccine either early or later, monitoring various health outcomes in children over four years.
  • Key outcomes included overall mortality, severe malaria rates, hospital admissions for meningitis, and vaccine coverage, with a specific focus on monitoring potential safety issues, particularly among girls.
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Background: The RTS,S/AS01E (RTS,S) malaria vaccine is recommended for children in malaria endemic areas. This phase 2b trial evaluates RTS,S fractional- and full-dose regimens in Ghana and Kenya.

Methods: In total, 1500 children aged 5-17 months were randomized (1:1:1:1:1) to receive RTS,S or rabies control vaccine.

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Although autophagy sequesters Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) in in vitro cultured macrophages, loss of autophagy in macrophages in vivo does not result in susceptibility to a standard low-dose Mtb infection until late during infection, leaving open questions regarding the protective role of autophagy during Mtb infection. Here we report that loss of autophagy in lung macrophages and dendritic cells results in acute susceptibility of mice to high-dose Mtb infection, a model mimicking active tuberculosis. Rather than observing a role for autophagy in controlling Mtb replication in macrophages, we find that autophagy suppresses macrophage responses to Mtb that otherwise result in accumulation of myeloid-derived suppressor cells and subsequent defects in T cell responses.

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Background: Malaria is a leading cause of childhood mortality worldwide. However, accurate estimates of malaria prevalence and causality among patients who die at the country level are lacking due to the limited specificity of diagnostic tools used to attribute etiologies. Accurate estimates are crucial for prioritizing interventions and resources aimed at reducing malaria-related mortality.

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Background: The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in human medicine is an objective biomarker that reflects prognosis. The NLR as an independent biomarker to help predict nonsurvival in hospitalized neonatal foals has not been thoroughly interrogated.

Objectives/hypothesis: Retrospectively evaluate if the NLR at admission is associated with nonsurvival in sick hospitalized foals <4 days old.

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Article Synopsis
  • The impact of asymptomatic infections on influenza transmission was unclear before COVID-19, but the pandemic has raised new questions about their significance.
  • Experts are now reevaluating the importance of these asymptomatic infections in transmitting influenza, given the established role of asymptomatic individuals in spreading COVID-19.
  • The text highlights current knowledge on the frequency and contribution of asymptomatic influenza infections to transmission, while suggesting areas for further research to fill existing gaps.
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Background: The only licensed malaria vaccine, RTS,S/AS01 , confers moderate protection against symptomatic disease. Because many malaria infections are asymptomatic, we conducted a large-scale longitudinal parasite genotyping study of samples from a clinical trial exploring how vaccine dosing regimen affects vaccine efficacy (VE).

Methods: 1,500 children aged 5-17 months were randomized to receive four different RTS,S/AS01 regimens or a rabies control vaccine in a phase 2b clinical trial in Ghana and Kenya.

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The built environment encompasses buildings we live in; the distribution systems that provide us with water and electricity; and the roads, bridges, and transportation systems we use to get from place to place. It provides safety, health, and well-being and meaning to its dwellers, as a place to work, live, learn, play, and thrive. Poor-quality housing affects dwellers' health through toxins such as radon and lead, mold, cold indoor temperatures, and overcrowding.

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Background: Palliative care as a specialist professional practice of care for people with advanced illness is becoming increasingly influential worldwide. This process is affected by global health inequalities as well as cultural dimensions of approaching death and practicing care in life-limiting illness.

Objectives: The European Research Council-funded Globalizing Palliative Care (ENDofLIFE) project aims to understand how palliative care policies, discourses and practices are translated, adapted and reconstituted in diverse socio-cultural settings and how cultural dimensions of approaching death and local practices of care shape palliative care implementation.

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Article Synopsis
  • The review highlights advancements in anti-TNF drug monitoring, pharmacogenetics, and tailored drug selection for pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
  • Recent studies indicate that proactive therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) can lead to better disease remission rates in children by targeting higher drug concentrations.
  • Ongoing research is exploring genetic factors associated with anti-drug antibodies and the identification of biomarkers that could improve the individualized management of anti-TNF therapies in children.
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Limited evidence suggests that children in sub-Saharan Africa hospitalized with all-cause severe anemia or severe acute malnutrition (SAM) are at high risk of dying in the first few months after discharge. We aimed to compare the risks of post-discharge mortality by health condition among hospitalized children in an area with high malaria transmission in western Kenya. We conducted a retrospective cohort study among recently discharged children aged < 5 years using mortality data from a health and demographic surveillance system that included household and pediatric in-hospital surveillance.

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