Macrophage Inhibitor Clodronate Enhances Liver Transduction of Lentiviral but Not Adeno-Associated Viral Vectors or mRNA Lipid Nanoparticles in Neonatal and Juvenile Mice.

Recently approved adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors for liver monogenic diseases haemophilia A and B are exemplifying the success of liver-directed viral gene therapy. In parallel, additional gene therapy strategies are rapidly emerging to overcome some inherent AAV limitations, such as the non-persistence of the episomal transgene in the rapidly growing liver and immune response. Viral integrating vectors such as in vivo lentiviral gene therapy and non-viral vectors such as lipid nanoparticles encapsulating mRNA (LNP-mRNA) are rapidly being developed, currently at the preclinical and clinical stages, respectively.

Staphylococcus aureus colonization and periprosthetic joint infection in patients undergoing elective total joint arthroplasty: a narrative review.

Peri-prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) following total joint arthroplasty (TJA) are associated with higher treatment costs, longer hospital admissions and increased morbidity and mortality. Colonization with Staphylococcus aureus is an independent and modifiable risk factor for PJIs and carriers of S. aureus are ten times more likely than non-carriers for post-operative infections.

South African inflation modelling using bootstrapped long short-term memory methods.

Inflation is a critical economic series, and proper targeting is required for a stable economy. With the current economic conditions that the world has faced as a result of COVID-19, understanding the effects of this on economies is critical because it will guide policies. Recent research on South African inflation has focused on statistical modelling, specifically the ARFIMA, GARCH, and GJR-GARCH models.

Streamlining ethics review for international health research.

Single-site review means protection and efficiency.

Equity impact of minimum unit pricing of alcohol on household health and finances among rich and poor drinkers in South Africa.

Introduction: South Africa experiences significant levels of alcohol-related harm. Recent research suggests minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcohol would be an effective policy, but high levels of income inequality raise concerns about equity impacts. This paper quantifies the equity impact of MUP on household health and finances in rich and poor drinkers in South Africa.

Utility of a Machine-Guided Tool for Assessing Risk Behavior Associated With Contracting HIV in Three Sites in South Africa: Protocol for an In-Field Evaluation.

Background: Mobile technology has helped to advance health programs, and studies have shown that an automated risk prediction model can successfully be used to identify patients who exhibit a high probable risk of contracting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A machine-guided tool is an algorithm that takes a set of subjective and objective answers from a simple questionnaire and computes an HIV risk assessment score.

Objective: The primary objective of this study is to establish that machine learning can be used to develop machine-guided tools and give us a deeper statistical understanding of the correlation between certain behavioral patterns and HIV.

CD4+ T-Cell Count at Antiretroviral Therapy Initiation in the "Treat-All" Era in Rural South Africa: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis.

Background: South Africa implemented universal test and treat (UTT) in September 2016 in an effort to encourage earlier initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Methods: We therefore conducted an interrupted time series (ITS) analysis to assess the impact of UTT on mean CD4 count at ART initiation among adults aged ≥16 years attending 17 public sector primary care clinics in rural South Africa, between July 2014 and March 2019.

Results: Among 20 599 individuals (69% women), CD4 counts were available for 74%.

Community engagement and feedback of results in the H3Africa AWI-Gen project: Experiences from the Navrongo Demographic and Health Surveillance site in Northern Ghana.

Community and Public engagement (CE) have gained traction as an ethical best practice for the conduct of genomics research, particularly in the context of Africa. In the past 10 years, there has been growing scholarship on the value and practice of engaging key stakeholders including communities involved in genomics research. However, not much has been documented on how research teams, particularly in international collaborative research projects, are navigating the complex process of engagement including the return of key research findings.

Anatomical and surface ultrastructural investigation of the tongue in the straw-coloured fruit bat (Eidolon helvum, Kerr 1972).

The morphology of tongue in straw-coloured fruit bat from tropical forests was evaluated in relation to frugivorous diets and in comparison with other species that consumes other food types. Gross, stereomicroscopy, scanning electron microscope and histological methods were used. The tongue was relatively long with round tip, which closely fitted into oral cavity.

The anti-tumor effects of imidazolium salts on oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: Imidazolium salts (IS), ionic derivatives of neutral imidazoles, have properties that can be adjusted by structural modifications to their cations and anions, which makes this particular class of compounds a promising option for developing biologically active compounds. The anti-tumor effects of the IS 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (C MImCl), 1-n-decyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (C MImCl), 1-n-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (C MImCl), 1-n-hexadecyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium chloride (C M ImCl), 1-n-octadecyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (C MImCl), 1-n-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium methanesulfonate (C MImMeS), and 1-n-hexadecyl-2,3- dimethylimidazolium methanesulfonate (C M ImMeS) on oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) have been studied here.

Methods: Oral squamous cell carcinoma cells (CAL27) were incubated with increasing IS doses and then submitted to proliferation (2D), cell death (2D) and spheroid assay (3D).

Herpes Simplex Virus-Related Conjunctivitis Resistant to Aciclovir: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Purpose: To report a rare case of herpes virus type 2-related conjunctivitis, resistant to aciclovir (ACV).

Methods: Case report and review of literature.

Results: A 28-year-old human immunodeficiency virus-positive man presented with chronic, recurrent follicular conjunctivitis.

Model-Based Predictions of HIV Incidence Among African Women Using HIV Risk Behaviors and Community-Level Data on Male HIV Prevalence and Viral Suppression.

Background: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and emtricitabine has proven highly effective in preventing HIV acquisition and is therefore offered to all participants in the control group as part of the standard of care package in many new HIV prevention studies. We propose a methodology for predicting HIV incidence in a hypothetical "placebo arm" for open-label studies or clinical trials with active control among African women. We apply the method to an open-label PrEP study, HIV Prevention Trials Network 082, which tested strategies to improve PrEP adherence in young African women all of whom were offered PrEP.

Effects of Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate, Copper Intrauterine Devices, and Levonorgestrel Implants on Early HIV Disease Progression.

Limited data exist on the effects of contraceptives on HIV disease progression. We studied the association between intramuscular injectable depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-IM), the copper intrauterine device (IUD), and the levonorgestrel (LNG) implant on markers of HIV disease progression at the time of HIV detection and 3 months postdetection and time from detection to CD4 count <350 cells/mm. Among women initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART), we studied the effect of contraceptive group on time from ART initiation to viral load (VL) <40 copies/mL.

Factors and considerations for establishing and improving seasonal influenza vaccination of health workers: Report from a WHO meeting, January 16-17, Berlin, Germany.

Health workers represent an important target group for seasonal influenza vaccination because of their increased risk of infection as well as the risk of transmitting infection to vulnerable patients in the health care setting. Moreover, seasonal vaccination of health workers contributes to pandemic preparedness. However, many countries, especially in Africa and Asia, do not have policies for health worker influenza vaccination.

HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis for adolescent girls and young women in Africa: from efficacy trials to delivery.

Introduction: Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in Africa have high HIV incidence despite scale-up of HIV testing and HIV treatment. Placebo-controlled trials of tenofovir-based pre-exposure prophylaxi (PrEP) in diverse populations demonstrated that PrEP works with close to 100% effectiveness if taken with high, but not perfect, adherence. Divergent efficacy estimates among African AGYW led to demonstration and implementation projects to better understand motivations for HIV prevention, uptake, adherence and persistence to PrEP.

Constructing, reproducing and challenging masculinities in a participatory intervention in urban informal settlements in South Africa.

Participatory interventions with men and boys to transform masculinities are increasingly common to improve health and reduce intimate partner violence and HIV-related risk. Yet, despite this, there has been little consideration of how facilitators' own masculinities shape interventions. In this analysis of Stepping Stones and Creating Futures, a gender-transformative programme delivered to young men (aged 18-30 years) in urban informal settlements in Durban, South Africa we explore how facilitators' masculinities were employed to engender change in the masculinities of participants.

Measuring gender norms about relationships in early adolescence: Results from the global early adolescent study.

Introduction: Gender norms are increasingly recognized as drivers of health and wellbeing. While early adolescence constitutes a critical window of development, there is limited understanding about how adolescents perceive gender relations across different cultural settings. This study used a mixed-method approach, grounded in the voices of young people around the world, to construct and test a cross-cultural scale assessing the perceptions of gender norms regulating romantic relationships between boys and girls in early adolescence.

High treatment success rate for multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis using a bedaquiline-containing treatment regimen.

South African patients with rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (TB) and resistance to fluoroquinolones and/or injectable drugs (extensively drug-resistant (XDR) and preXDR-TB) were granted access to bedaquiline through a clinical access programme with strict inclusion and exclusion criteria.PreXDR-TB and XDR-TB patients were treated with 24 weeks of bedaquiline within an optimised, individualised background regimen that could include levofloxacin, linezolid and clofazimine as needed. 200 patients were enrolled: 87 (43.

The MONARCH intervention to enhance the quality of antenatal and postnatal primary health services in rural South Africa: protocol for a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised controlled trial.

Background: Gaps in maternal and child health services can slow progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The Management and Optimization of Nutrition, Antenatal, Reproductive, Child Health & HIV Care (MONARCH) study will evaluate a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) intervention targeted at improving antenatal and postnatal health service outcomes in rural South Africa where HIV prevalence among pregnant women is extremely high. Specifically, it will establish the effectiveness of CQI on viral load (VL) testing in pregnant women who are HIV-positive and repeat HIV testing in pregnant women who are HIV-negative.

NF-κB Activity Initiates Human ESC-Derived Neural Progenitor Cell Differentiation by Inducing a Metabolic Maturation Program.

Human neural development begins at embryonic day 19 and marks the beginning of organogenesis. Neural stem cells in the neural tube undergo profound functional, morphological, and metabolic changes during neural specification, coordinated by a combination of exogenous and endogenous cues. The temporal cell signaling activities that mediate this process, during development and in the postnatal brain, are incompletely understood.