Determinants of appropriate child health and nutrition practices among women in rural Gambia.

Health education and awareness involves providing knowledge about causes of illness and choices to promote a change in individual behaviour and, thus, improves survival of individuals. Studies have, however, shown that improved knowledge and awareness is not always translated into appropriate actions. This study aimed at exploring the factors determining mothers' choices of appropriate child health and nutrition practices in the Gambia.

Chloroquine resistance before and after its withdrawal in Kenya.

Background: The spread of resistance to chloroquine (CQ) led to its withdrawal from use in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s. In Malawi, this withdrawal was followed by a rapid reduction in the frequency of resistance to the point where the drug is now considered to be effective once again, just nine years after its withdrawal. In this report, the polymorphisms of markers associated with CQ-resistance against Plasmodium falciparum isolates from coastal Kenya (Kilifi) were investigated, from 1993, prior to the withdrawal of CQ, to 2006, seven years after its withdrawal.

What are the implications for childhood pneumonia of successfully introducing Hib and pneumococcal vaccines in developing countries?

The authors look to the future and imagine the implications of a successful vaccination campaign against type b and pneumococcus.

Could an open-source clinical trial data-management system be what we have all been looking for?

The authors argue that research organizations and funders should combine efforts to produce an open-source solution for trial data management.

Improving malaria home treatment by training drug retailers in rural Kenya.

Recent global malaria control initiatives highlight the potential role of drug retailers to improve access to early effective malaria treatment. We report on the findings and discuss the implications of an educational programme for rural drug retailers and communities in Kenya between 1998 and 2001 in a study population of 70,000. Impact was evaluated through annual household surveys of over-the-counter (OTC) drug use and simulated retail client surveys in an early (1999) and a late (2000) implementation area.

Pharmacokinetics of phenytoin following intravenous and intramuscular administration of fosphenytoin and phenytoin sodium in the rabbit.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare plasma phenytoin concentration versus time profiles following intravenous (i.v.) and intramuscular (i.

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of diazepam in plasma of children with severe malaria.

A sensitive, selective and reproducible reversed-phase HPLC method with ultraviolet detection was developed for the quantification of diazepam in small plasma samples from children with severe malaria. The method involves plasma deproteinization with acetonitrile, followed by liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate-n-hexane. Diazepam was eluted at ambient temperatures from a reversed-phase C18 column with an acidic (pH 3.

The changing in vitro susceptibility pattern to pyrimethamine/sulfadoxine in Plasmodium falciparum field isolates from Kilifi, Kenya.

Two clinical trials that used Falcidin (Cosmos Ltd., Nairobi, Kenya), the antifolate combination of pyrimethamine/sulfadoxine (PM/SD), as treatment for non-severe falciparum malaria in children at Kilifi, Kenya in 1987-1988 and 1993-1995 have presented an opportunity to assess in vitro the susceptibility trend of Plasmodium falciparum to PM and SD over time on the Kenya coast. The first set of isolates was collected prior to the introduction of PM/SD into the Kenya Medical Research Institute/Wellcome Trust Research unit while the second set was taken soon after PM/SD was introduced in the study area as the first-line treatment drug for uncomplicated falciparum malaria.

The effect of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 on the infectiousness of tuberculosis.

Setting: Developing country tertiary referral hospital plus catchment community.

Objective: To determine the infectiousness of culture-confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis in patients infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus type-1 (HIV-1).

Design: Comparison of the incidence of tuberculosis and the prevalence of tuberculin skin test positivity among the household contacts of both HIV-1 positive and negative cases with pulmonary tuberculosis.