TKK130 is a 3-Hydroxy-Propanamidine (HPA) with Potent Antimalarial Activity and a High Barrier to Resistance.

Malaria continues to pose a significant burden on populations in endemic areas and requires innovative treatment options. Here, we report the synthesis and preclinical evaluation of the novel 3-hydroxypropanamidine (HPA) , which shows excellent antiplasmodial activity against drug-sensitive and -resistant strains. Moreover, in various human cell lines, the compound shows no cytotoxicity and excellent parasite selectivity.

Emergence of Omicron FN.1 a descendent of BQ.1.1 in Botswana.

Botswana, like the rest of the world, has been significantly impacted by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In December 2022, we detected a monophyletic cluster of genomes comprising a sublineage of the Omicron variant of concern (VOC) designated as B.1.

Case report: Discovery of tuberculosis caused by in free-ranging vervet monkeys in the Greater Kruger Conservation Area.

Animal tuberculosis (TB) has been reported in several wildlife species in the Greater Kruger Conservation Area (GKCA), South Africa. This report describes the discovery of clinical tuberculosis, caused by (), in free-ranging vervet monkeys (). The "One Health" concept is especially relevant to TB since this is a multi-host disease with zoonotic potential and is endemic in GKCA.

Transforming Households with Refraction and Innovative Financial Technology (THRIFT): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of vision interventions and online banking among the elderly in Kurigram.

Introduction: Presbyopia, difficulty in seeing close-ups, affects a billion people globally. Mobile financial services (MFS) have been mandated since January 2021 for Bangladesh government social safety net payments, including old age allowance (OAA) and widow allowance (WA). We report the protocol for the Transforming Households with Refraction and Innovative Financial Technology randomised trial assessing the impact on the use of online banking of providing presbyopic safety net beneficiaries with reading glasses, and brief smartphone and mobile banking app training.

Machine learning approach and geospatial analysis to determine HIV infection, awareness status, and transmission knowledge among adults in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Background: HIV/AIDS remains a major public health challenge, in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In 2020, 16% of people living with HIV did not know their HIV status in SSA. Understanding the geospatial distribution of HIV infection, awareness status, and transmission knowledge is crucial for designing effective prevention and control strategies to end the HIV/AIDS pandemic by 2030.

"If we work as a team, there are success stories." Unpacking team members' perceptions and experiences of what impacts team performance in a maternal and neonatal quality improvement programme in South Africa, before, and during COVID-19.

Many maternal and neonatal deaths and stillbirths can be avoided if quality of care is improved. The South African National Department of Health implemented a multi-partner quality improvement (QI) programme between 2018 and 2022, in 21 facilities, with the aim to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality. We conducted a qualitative evaluation to explore QI team members' perceptions of the factors shaping variation in team performance.

Alignment-Free Viral Sequence Classification at Scale.

Background: The rapid increase in nucleotide sequence data generated by next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies demands efficient computational tools for sequence comparison. Alignment-based methods, such as BLAST, are increasingly overwhelmed by the scale of contemporary datasets due to their high computational demands for classification. This study evaluates alignment-free (AF) methods as scalable and rapid alternatives for viral sequence classification, focusing on identifying techniques that maintain high accuracy and efficiency when applied to extremely large datasets.

Wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 during a mass sporting event in the City of Cape Town, Western Cape.

Background: Wastewater surveillance has become an important public health tool with numerous research studies indicating its potential for monitoring coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreaks. The aim of this study was to apply wastewater surveillance as an indicator for COVID-19 to monitor the impact of a mass sporting event in the City of Cape Town. The study compared the same event over 2 years (2022 and 2023).

Country-Specific Roadmaps for Scaling Up Integrated Care in Belgium, Slovenia, and Cambodia - Lessons Learned from the SCUBY Project.

Introduction: The SCUBY project aimed to provide knowledge on the scaling-up of an Integrated Care Package (ICP) for type 2 diabetes and hypertension across three distinct health systems (Cambodia, Slovenia, and Belgium). Here, we analyse the different elements of the country-specific scale-up roadmaps to identify similarities and differences, and share lessons learned.

Methods: Thematic analysis was used to derive crucial roadmap elements from key SCUBY documents (n = 20), including policy briefs, interim reports, research outputs, and consortium meeting notes.

Clostridioides difficile infection and testing rates in South Africa: A multicentre study, 2017-2020.

Objectives: To describe Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) rates and testing practices, at three tertiary/quaternary hospitals in South Africa (SA) for the period 2017 to 2020.

Methods: A retrospective laboratory record review of all C. difficile testing at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (CMJAH), Tygerberg Hospital (TBH) and Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Academic Hospital (IALCH) was performed.

Characterisation of the influence of dietary fat and sugar on bone health utilising densitometry, micro-computed tomography and histomorphometry.

Obesogenic feeding can affect systemic metabolism and impact bone health and microarchitecture, but the findings of published studies often appear contradictory. This study aimed to compare the effects of a medium-fat/high-sugar (MF/HS) and a high-fat/high-fructose (HF/Fr) diet on the femora of weanling male Wistar rats, examining bone mineral content and density (BMC, BMD), cortical and cancellous bone microarchitecture and the cell populations within bone. Furthermore, we explored the correlations between circulating bone-targeting factors (in particular leptin, adiponectin and insulin) and bone parameters.

Effectiveness of the primary Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine against the risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and tuberculosis disease: a meta-analysis of individual participant data.

Background: Tuberculosis vaccine trials using disease as the primary endpoint are large, time consuming, and expensive. An earlier immunological measure of the protection against disease would accelerate tuberculosis vaccine development. We aimed to assess whether the effectiveness of the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine for prevention of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection was consistent with that for prevention of tuberculosis disease.

Adverse birth outcome research case definitions associated with maternal HIV and antiretroviral drug use in pregnancy: a scoping review.

Background: Adverse birth outcomes (preterm birth, low birth weight, small for gestational age, and stillbirth) seem to persist in infants born to people with HIV, even in the context of maternal antiretroviral therapy. However, findings have been disparate, inconclusive, and difficult to compare directly across settings, partly owing to variable outcome definitions. We aimed to collate, compare, and map existing adverse birth outcome definitions to inform a harmonized approach to universally measure these outcomes in studies including pregnant people with HIV.

Neonates exposed to HIV but uninfected exhibit an altered gut microbiota and inflammation associated with impaired breast milk antibody function.

Background: Infants exposed to HIV but uninfected have altered immune profiles which include heightened systemic inflammation. The mechanism(s) underlying this phenomenon is unknown. Here, we investigated differences in neonatal gut bacterial and viral microbiome and associations with inflammatory biomarkers in plasma.

A scoping review of activities intended to reduce publication bias in randomised trials.

Background: The World Health Organization recommends that a randomised controlled trial (RCT) publishes its results in a peer-reviewed journal within 24 months of study completion. When RCTs are not published or publication is delayed, this can contribute to publication bias, which is the tendency for studies with positive or significant results to be published more frequently than studies with nonsignificant or negative results. This bias skews the available evidence, creating a distorted view of the research landscape.

Global burden of tuberculous meningitis in children aged 0-14 years in 2019: a mathematical modelling study.

Background: Tuberculous meningitis is fatal if untreated and can lead to lifelong neurological sequelae. However, to our knowledge, there are no data on the number of children affected by this disease. We aimed to estimate the global disease burden and attributable mortality of childhood tuberculous meningitis by WHO regions, age groups, treatment status, and HIV status in 2019.

Virome assembly reveals draft genomes of native Pseudomonas phages isolated from a paediatric bronchoalveolar lavage sample.

We present lung virome data recovered through shotgun metagenomics in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from an infant with cystic fibrosis, who tested positive for infection. Using a bioinformatic pipeline for virus characterization in shotgun metagenomic data, we identified five viral contigs representing Pseudomonas phages classified as Caudoviricetes.

Disclosure of biological sex may impact individual privacy.

Human identification by forensic DNA profiling primarily relies on the analysis of short tandem repeat markers (STRs) and Amelogenin or other sex determining markers. The resultant DNA profiles can be compared directly between evidence and reference samples or indirectly (i.e.

SARS-CoV-2 Infections in a Triad of Primary School Learners (Grades 1-7), Their Parents, and Teachers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: Protocol for a Cross-Sectional and Nested Case-Cohort Study.

Background: In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) such as South Africa, there is paucity of data on SARS-CoV-2 infections among children attending school, including seroprevalence and transmission dynamics.

Objective: This pilot study aims to assess (1) the prevalence of self-reported or confirmed SARS-CoV-2 prior infections, COVID-19 symptoms (including long COVID), seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, and general/mental health, (2) longitudinal changes in SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence, and (3) SARS-CoV-2 acute infections, immune responses, transmission dynamics, and symptomatic versus asymptomatic contacts in a unique cohort of unvaccinated primary school learners, their parents, teachers, and close contacts in semirural primary school settings.

Methods: Learners (grades 1-7) from primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, their parents, and teachers will be invited to enroll into the COVID kids school study (CoKiDSS).

Low concordance between QIAreach QuantiFERON-TB, a novel interferon-gamma release assay, and QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus, in a population-based survey in Blantyre, Malawi.

Unlabelled: Urgent improvements in the diagnosis and management of infection are required to reach End TB goals. Conventional interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs), such as QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus), require substantial laboratory infrastructure and large blood volumes, limiting use in high-burden settings. The QIAreach QuantiFERON-TB (QIAreach QFT) was developed to overcome these challenges but has not previously been evaluated in field conditions in a low-income, high-burden country, or at scale in children.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices of the general population towards Marburg virus disease in sub-Saharan African countries: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Marburg virus disease (MVD) is categorized among viral hemorrhagic fevers. MVD is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to identify factors affecting MVD knowledge, attitudes and practices in sub-Saharan African countries.

(ragweed) pollen - A growing aeroallergen of concern in South Africa.

Background: Ragweed is an invasive, highly allergenic weed predicted to expand its habitat with warming global temperatures. Several species have been identified in South Africa for well over a century; however, its presence remained undetected by allergists and aerobiologists until the development of an extensive aerospora monitoring system across South African urban areas since 2019. This paper presents the inventory of preliminary investigation of the airborne pollen and the taxonomic identification of ragweed species.

Assessment of an eye-tracking tool to discriminate between concussed and not concussed professional male rugby players: a cohort study.

Objectives: Concussion is a common injury in rugby union ('rugby') and yet its diagnosis is reliant on clinical judgment. Oculomotor testing could provide an objective measure to assist with concussion diagnosis. NeuroFlex® evaluates oculomotor function using a virtual-reality headset.