Educational inequalities in disability linked to social security coverage among older individuals in five Latin American countries.

Although Latin American populations are ageing rapidly, many countries have important shortcomings in terms of access to social security coverage. Despite significant improvements regarding access to healthcare, the coverage gap in terms of pensions represents a major challenge for public health and equity in the region. The principal aim of this study was to systematically assess the association between social security coverage and disability among older individuals in five Latin American countries, as well as the extent of existing inequalities and its determinants.

THEILERIOSIS IN MOUNTAIN BONGO REPATRIATED TO KENYA: A CLINICAL AND MOLECULAR INVESTIGATION.

Mountain bongo () from Kenya were exported to zoological institutions in North America and Europe in the 1970s and 1980s. In the following 20-30 years bongo numbers declined in Kenya and the Mountain Bongo Repatriation Project was launched. This resulted in 18 adult bongo, descendants of the original translocated bongo, being repatriated from the United States to Kenya in 2004.

Expression, domain structure, and enzymatic properties of an active recombinant human DNA topoisomerase II beta.

Human cells express two genetically distinct isoforms of DNA topoisomerase II, alpha and beta, which catalyze ATP-dependent DNA strand passage and are an important antitumor drug target. Here we report for the first time the successful overexpression of human topoisomerase II beta in yeast by cloning a topoisomerase II beta cDNA in a yeast shuttle vector under the control of a galactose-inducible promoter. Recombinant human topoisomerase II beta (residues 46-1621 fused to the first 5 residues of yeast topoisomerase II) was purified to homogeneity, yielding an enzymatically active polypeptide in sufficient quantity to allow analysis of its domain structure and comparison with that of recombinant human topoisomerase II alpha.

Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense: use of an antigen detection enzyme immunoassay for evaluation of response to chemotherapy in infected vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops).

Thirty eight Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense-infected vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) in the late (meningoencephalitic) stage of disease, treated with various trypanocidal drugs, were monitored for a period of more than 600 days to assess the rate of clearance of trypanosome antigens from serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). There was a complete but gradual reduction in antigen titres, as assessed by ELISA, in animals treated intravenously with melarsoprol, the standard drug for the late stage disease. In 8 of the 9 monkeys treated with melarsoprol, the antigen titres, as assessed by optical density values, dropped by 50% within 252 days (mean value 68 days for antigens in CSF and 116 for serum) following treatment.

Synergistic activity of 5-substituted 2-nitroimidazoles (Ro 15-0216 and benznidazole) and DL-alpha-difluoromethylornithine on Trypanosoma brucei brucei.

The antitrypanosomal activity of two 5-substituted 2-nitro-imidazoles (Ro 15-0216 and benznidazole) and alpha-DL-difluoro-methylornithine (DFMO) was tested in four stocks of Trypanosoma brucei brucei in vitro. The IC50 (drug concentration which inhibits growth of trypanosome populations by 50%) values ranged from 0.27-1.

Differential susceptibility to DL-alpha-difluoromethylornithine in clinical isolates of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense.

DL-alpha-Difluoromethylornithine is an enzyme-activated inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase and an antagonist of polyamine metabolism that has been successful in clinical trials against West African sleeping sickness caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense. Its potential for use against the more virulent East African form of the disease, caused by T. brucei rhodesiense, is not certain.

Homidium bromide as a chemoprophylactic for cattle trypanosomiasis in Kenya.

Homidium bromide was used in a strategic chemoprophylactic regime to control trypanosomiasis in Boran cattle in Kenya. Trypanosome infection rates in cattle receiving homidium bromide prophylaxis were compared with those in control cattle which received no prophylaxis but were treated with diminazene aceturate when infected. Homidium bromide was administered twice during the year after which no infections were detected for periods of nineteen weeks and seventeen weeks respectively.

Serodiagnosis of African sleeping sickness in vervet monkeys by detection of parasite antigens.

Sera of vervet monkeys experimentally infected with T. b. rhodesiense were examined using a double antibody sandwich ELISA and Procyclic Agglutination Trypanosomiasis Test (PATT) for the presence of circulating trypanosomal antigens and anti-procyclic surface antibodies, respectively.

Evidence of blood cerebrospinal fluid barrier permeability impairment in Trypanosoma rhodesiense infection in vervet monkeys.

Blood-cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) barrier damage in 11 vervet monkeys was estimated before infection and during the early and late phases of Trypanosoma rhodesiense disease, using the method given by Tibbling, Link and Ohman (1977). Of the 11, only one monkey showed signs of barrier impairment that ranged from a slight (12.6) to total barrier impairment (285); the latter occurring just before the height of clinical encephalitis.

Improved clinical approach to the diagnosis of canine ehrlichiosis.

Canine ehrlichiosis is being recognised with increasing frequency in many parts of the world. Based upon a detailed clinical and laboratory examination including a simple in vitro blood culture diagnostic test 373 cases have been classified into seven broad groups. These groups include acute, haemorrhagic, chronic, uraemic, subclinical, carrier state and those with babesiosis.

Use of procyclic trypanosomes for detection of antibodies in sera from vervet monkeys infected with Trypanosoma rhodesiense: an immunodiagnostic test for African sleeping sickness.

Uncoated procyclic culture forms of African trypanosomes were used in immunofluorescence and simple agglutination assays to detect antibodies in the sera of vervet monkeys infected with T. b. rhodesiense.

Trypanotolerance in East African Orma Boran cattle.

Comparative studies on two types of large East African zebu (Bos indicus) Boran cattle, on a beef ranch in Kenya, have indicated that a Boran type bred by the Orma tribe has a superior response to tsetse fly challenge. The Orma Boran when compared with an improved Boran was found to have lower trypanosome infection rates and, when untreated, better control of anaemia and decreased mortality.

Cryosurgery of bovine squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva.

Sixty-two cattle with vulval carcinoma of various sizes were treated by cryosurgery using double freeze-thaw cycles. A cure rate of 88.7 per cent was achieved.

Trypanosomal cardiac valvulitis in vervet monkeys.

Quarantined vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) were infected with Trypanosoma brucei (10(4) parasites/animal) in a tsetse free area. Thirteen monkeys (11 infected with T.b.

Tick survey on goats and sheep in Kenya.

A tick survey was done on sheep and goats in Siaya and Kakamega Districts, Kenya between October 1980 and October 1981. Most of the animals were found to carry one to 10 ticks with no significant difference between sheep and goats. The most abundant species was R.

Immunopathological aspects of trypanosomal meningoencephalitis in vervet monkeys after relapse following Berenil treatment.

Four quarantined vervet monkeys were treated with intramuscular Berenil in patent CNS infection after experimental trypanosome inoculation with Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense or T. brucei brucei. All four animals relapsed in the post-therapeutic survival time of 37 to 209 days when they had fully developed meningoencephalitis in histological sections with the presence of interstitial intracerebral trypanosomes, which were confirmed in two monkeys by electron microscopy.

An outbreak of poliomyelitis caused by poliovirus type I in captive black and white colobus monkeys (Colobus abyssinicus kikuyuensis) in Kenya.

In the latter part of 1982, three black and white colobus monkeys, Colobus abyssinicus kikuyuensis, from a small breeding group maintained at the Institute of Primate Research in Kenya, became paralysed within one month. Two of these cases were fatal and the third animal survived. The clinical and pathological findings suggested a poliomyelitis-like disease.

Cardiac lymph drainage in experimental African trypanosomiasis in vervet monkeys.

In group I (15 monkeys) the infection time was less than 70 days with one exception and histologically 14 had trypanosomal pancarditis with morphological evidence of lymph stasis. Trypanosomes served as markers of the dilated cardiac lymphatics seen at apices, atrioventricular junctions, near the His bundle, at the base of cardiac valves and around the root of the aorta and pulmonary artery. 3 hearts had apical aneurysms.