Prospects and strategies for malaria elimination in the Greater Mekong Sub-region: a qualitative study.

Background: As malaria elimination becomes a goal in malaria-endemic nations, questions of feasibility become critical. This article explores the potential challenges associated with this goal and future strategies for malaria elimination in the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

Methods: Thirty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with policy makers (n = 17) and principal investigators (n = 15) selected based on their involvement in malaria prevention, control and elimination in the GMS.

Clinical trials in low-resource settings: the perspectives of caregivers of paediatric participants from Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.

Objectives: Vaccine clinical trials in low-resource settings have unique challenges due to structural and financial inequities. Specifically, protecting participant and caregiver autonomy to participate in the research study can be a major challenge, so understanding the setting and contextual factors which influence the decision process is necessary. This study investigates the experience of caregivers consenting on behalf of paediatric participants in a malaria vaccine clinical trial where participation enables access to free, high-quality medical care.

Care-Seeking Dynamics among Patients with Diabetes Mellitus and Hypertension in Selected Rural Settings in Kenya.

Diabetes mellitus and hypertension are two common non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that often coexist in patients. However, health-seeking behaviour in patients with diabetes mellitus or hypertension has not been extensively studied especially in low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to examine care-seeking dynamics among participants diagnosed with diabetes and/or hypertension across nine counties in rural Kenya.

RTS,S malaria vaccine pilot studies: addressing the human realities in large-scale clinical trials.

A malaria vaccine as part of the integrated malaria control and elimination efforts will have a major impact on public health in sub-Sahara Africa. The first malaria vaccine, RTS,S, now enters pilot implementation in three African countries. These pilot implementation studies are being initiated in Kenya, Malawi, and Ghana to inform the broader roll-out recommendation.

High fidelity fibre-based physiological sensing deep in tissue.

Physiological sensing deep in tissue remains a clinical challenge. Here a flexible miniaturised sensing optrode providing a platform to perform minimally invasive in vivo in situ measurements is reported. Silica microspheres covalently coupled with a high density of ratiometrically configured fluorophores were deposited into etched pits on the distal end of a 150 µm diameter multicore optical fibre.

Ethical principles for promoting health research data sharing with sub-Saharan Africa.

A powerful feature of global health research is data-sharing with regions which bear the heaviest burden of disease. It offers novel opportunities for aggregating data to address critical global health challenges in ways higher than relying on individual studies. Yet there exist important stratifiers of the capacity to share data, particularly across the Global North-South divide.

Fibre-based spectral ratio endomicroscopy for contrast enhancement of bacterial imaging and pulmonary autofluorescence.

Fibre-based optical endomicroscopy (OEM) permits high resolution fluorescence microscopy in endoscopically accessible tissues. Fibred OEM has the potential to visualise pathologies targeted with fluorescent imaging probes and provide an molecular pathology platform to augment disease understanding, diagnosis and stratification. Here we present an inexpensive widefield ratiometric fibred OEM system capable of enhancing the contrast between similar spectra of pathologically relevant fluorescent signals without the burden of complex spectral unmixing.

Two cases of long-lasting, sub-microscopic Plasmodium malariae infections in adults from coastal Tanzania.

Background: Malaria is endemic in Tanzania with majority of clinical cases caused by Plasmodium falciparum. Additionally, Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium ovale spp. are also present and clinical manifestations caused by these infections are not well described.

Low Plasma IL-8 Levels During Chemotherapy Are Predictive of Excellent Long-Term Survival in Metastatic Breast Cancer.

Background: Interleukin (IL)-8 is a proinflammatory cytokine, and high levels of IL-8 are associated with poor prognosis in many malignancies. The objective of this study was to explore the clinical benefit of monitoring plasma IL-8 levels during breast cancer chemotherapy.

Patients And Methods: We conducted an exploratory analysis of several circulating proteins, including IL-8, in the plasma.

Voluntary exercise enables stress resistance in females.

Stress-related disorders are more common in females than males. This difference could arise from differential responses to behavioral interventions that enable stress resistance between sexes. In male rats, regular physical activity prevents the behavioral consequences of uncontrollable stress, such as social avoidance and exaggerated fear conditioning.

Safety profile of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine in infants and children: additional data from a phase III randomized controlled trial in sub-Saharan Africa.

A phase III, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial (NCT00866619) in sub-Saharan Africa showed RTS,S/AS01 vaccine efficacy against malaria. We now present in-depth safety results from this study. 8922 children (enrolled at 5-17 months) and 6537 infants (enrolled at 6-12 weeks) were 1:1:1-randomized to receive 4 doses of RTS,S/AS01 (R3R) or non-malaria control vaccine (C3C), or 3 RTS,S/AS01 doses plus control (R3C).

Safety and Differential Antibody and T-Cell Responses to the Sporozoite Malaria Vaccine, PfSPZ Vaccine, by Age in Tanzanian Adults, Adolescents, Children, and Infants.

In 2016, there were more cases and deaths caused by malaria globally than in 2015. An effective vaccine would be an ideal additional tool for reducing malaria's impact. Sanaria PfSPZ Vaccine, composed of radiation-attenuated, aseptic, purified, cryopreserved (Pf) sporozoites (SPZ) has been well tolerated and safe in malaria-naïve and experienced adults in the United States and Mali and protective against controlled human malaria infection with Pf in the United States and field transmission of Pf in Mali, but had not been assessed in younger age groups.

Polymer Microarrays for the Discovery and Optimization of Robust Optical-Fiber-Based pH Sensors.

Polymer microarrays were utilized for the high-throughput screening and discovery of optimal polymeric substrates capable of trapping functional ratiometric fluorescence-based pH sensors. This led to the identification of poly(methyl methacrylate- co-2-(dimethylamino) ethyl acrylate) (PA101), which allowed, via dip coating, the attachment of fluorescent pH sensors onto the tips of optical fibers, resulting in robust, rapid, and reproducible sensing of physiological pHs.

Retention in care and virological failure among adult HIV+ patients on second-line ART in Rwanda: a national representative study.

Background: Currently, there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of second-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) in sub-Saharan Africa. To address this challenge, outcomes of second-line protease inhibitor (PI) based ART in Rwanda were assessed.

Methods: A two-stage cluster sampling design was undertaken.

Subspecies Typing of Based on Ribosomal Subunit Protein Mass Variation by MALDI-TOF MS.

A ribosomal subunit protein (rsp)-based matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) method was developed for fast subspecies-level typing of (Group B , GBS), a major cause of neonatal sepsis and meningitis. A total of 796 GBS whole genome sequences, covering the genetic diversity of the global GBS population, were used to predict molecular mass variability of 28 rsp and to identify unique rsp mass combinations, termed "rsp-profiles". The established GBS typing scheme was validated by MALDI-TOF MS analysis of GBS isolates at two independent research sites in Europe and South East Asia.

Two successful decades of Swiss collaborations to develop new anti-malarials.

Over the last two decades there has been a renaissance in the pipeline of new drugs targeting malaria, with the launch of new products that help save the lives of children throughout the world. In addition, there is a wealth of new molecules both entering and progressing through clinical development. These bring hope for a new generation of simpler and more effective cures that could overcome the emerging threat of drug resistance.

Immunologic-based Diagnosis of Latent Tuberculosis Among Children Younger Than 5 Years of Age Exposed and Unexposed to Tuberculosis in Tanzania.

Background: Childhood tuberculosis (TB) is acquired after exposure to an infectious TB case, often within the household. We prospectively screened children 6-59 months of age, exposed and unexposed to an infectious TB case within the same household, for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Methods: We collected medical data and clinical specimens (to evaluate for helminths, TB and HIV coinfections) and performed physical examinations at enrollment and at 3-month and 6-month follow-up surveys.

Correction to: Development and validation of an objective assessment scale for chest tube insertion under 'direct' and 'indirect' rating.

Following publication of the original article [1], the author reported that the given name and family name of all authors were swapped.

High-speed dual color fluorescence lifetime endomicroscopy for highly-multiplexed pulmonary diagnostic applications and detection of labeled bacteria.

We present a dual-color laser scanning endomicroscope capable of fluorescence lifetime endomicroscopy at one frame per second (FPS). The scanning system uses a coherent imaging fiber with 30,000 cores. High-speed lifetime imaging is achieved by distributing the signal over an array of 1024 parallel single-photon avalanche diode detectors (SPADs), minimizing detection dead-time maximizing the number of photons detected per excitation pulse without photon pile-up to achieve the high frame rate.

Peptides Containing meso-Oxa-Diaminopimelic Acid as Substrates for the Cell-Shape-Determining Proteases Csd6 and Pgp2.

The enzymes Csd6 and Pgp2 are peptidoglycan (PG) proteases found in the pathogenic bacteria Helicobacter pylori and Campylobacter jejuni, respectively. These enzymes are involved in the trimming of non-crosslinked PG sidechains and catalyze the cleavage of the bond between meso-diaminopimelic acid (meso-Dap) and d-alanine, thus converting a PG tetrapeptide into a PG tripeptide. They are known to be cell-shape-determining enzymes, because deletion of the corresponding genes results in mutant strains that have lost the normal helical phenotype and instead possess a straight-rod morphology.

Viewpoint: Parasites and partnerships.

This text grew from a series of talks between a young science journalist trained in history and Marcel Tanner, global health expert with forty years of field experience in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. At the very core of the series was the question of the successes and failures of global health initiatives at various points in time and in different locations. It also tackled the issue of which of the lessons learned in global health over the past thirty years could possibly be of importance for future scholars and decision-makers in the field.

KCa1.1 and Kv1.3 channels regulate the interactions between fibroblast-like synoviocytes and T lymphocytes during rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) and CCR7 effector memory T (T) cells are two of the major cell types implicated in the progression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In particular, FLS become highly invasive, whereas T cells proliferate and secrete proinflammatory cytokines, during RA. FLS and T cells may also interact and influence each other's phenotypes.

Development and validation of an objective assessment scale for chest tube insertion under 'direct' and 'indirect' rating.

Background: There is an increasing need for objective and validated educational concepts. This holds especially true for surgical procedures like chest tube insertion (CTI). Thus, we developed an instrument for objectification of learning successes: the assessment scale based on Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skill (OSATS) for chest tube insertion, which is evaluated in this study.