Recent advances in the pathogenesis and treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.

Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a very rare disease that has been investigated for over one century and has revealed unique aspects of the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of a hemolytic anemia. PNH results from expansion of a clone of hematopoietic cells that, as a consequence of an inactivating mutation of the X-linked gene PIG-A, are deficient in glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-linked proteins: since these include the surface membrane complement-regulatory proteins CD55 and CD59, the red cells arising from this clone are exquisitely sensitive to lysis by activated complement. Until a decade ago, the treatment options for PNH were either supportive treatment - often including blood transfusion, anti-thrombosis prophylaxis, and sometimes thrombolytic therapy - or allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.

Stroke risk factors in an incident population in urban and rural Tanzania: a prospective, community-based, case-control study.

Background: The burden of stroke on health systems in low-income and middle-income countries is increasing. However, high-quality data for modifiable stroke risk factors in sub-Saharan Africa are scarce, with no community based, case-control studies previously published. We aimed to identify risk factors for stroke in an incident population from rural and urban Tanzania.

Electrocardiographic assessment of coronary artery disease and stroke risk factors in rural and urban Tanzania: a case-control study.

Background: Although the association between cerebrovascular and coronary artery disease (CAD) is well known in high-income countries, this association is not well documented in black Africans.

Aims: The aim of this study was to document electrocardiographic (ECG) evidence of CAD in stroke cases and controls and to identify other common ECG abnormalities related to known stroke risk factors in a community-based population of incident stroke cases in Tanzania, East Africa.

Methods: This was a case-control study.