3,864 results match your criteria: "University of Zimbabwe[Affiliation]"

Phenotypic characterization of NK cells in 5-year-old children exposed to maternal HIV and antiretroviral therapy in early-life.

BMC Immunol

December 2024

Immunology Unit, Department of Laboratory Diagnostic and Investigative Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, UZ-FMHS), Harare, Zimbabwe.

Background: HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) children are at increased risk of morbidity during the first years of life. Although the immune responses of HEU infants in early-life are relatively well described, studies of natural killer (NK) cells in older HEU children are lacking. NK cell subsets were analysed in HEU children and compared to those in HIV unexposed uninfected (HUU) children aged ~ five years.

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Assessing the potential impact of livestock immunisation and acaricide use on controlling the spread of East Coast fever.

Parasite Epidemiol Control

May 2024

Department of Mathematics and Computational Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, P.O. Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe.

Immunisation of livestock with high-quality vaccines and the use of acaricides are highly ranked tick control strategies worldwide. However, the effects of coupling livestock immunisation and acaricide control on mitigating the spread of East Coast Fever (ECF) is not well understood. Effective strategies to curb the disease require an understanding of the influence of control strategies on ECF dynamics.

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Background: Little is known about the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in emerging adults living with HIV in low-income countries.

Aims: Determine prevalence of trauma exposure, prevalence of probable PTSD and conditional prevalence of probable PTSD for different traumatic events; and better understand the experiences of individuals with HIV and PTSD.

Method: This mixed method study used secondary data from a cross-sectional survey of people ( = 222) aged 18 to 29 living with HIV in Zimbabwe and primary qualitative data collection.

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Background: Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is the most life-threatening form of undernutrition, and children hospitalised with complications have unacceptably high mortality. Complicated SAM is a multisystem disease characterised pathophysiologically by muscle wasting, systemic inflammation, metabolic dysfunction, and malnutrition enteropathy including epithelial barrier dysfunction. There is a clear need for novel interventions to address the underlying pathogenic perturbations of complicated SAM.

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Background: Rugby has not grown extensively in Africa compared to other continents, necessitating talent identification (TID) programs to recruit junior talent. However, it is unclear which physical characteristics and rugby-specific game skills to base the objective recruitment of potentially talented young players.

Objectives: This study profiled the physical fitness characteristics and rugby-specific game skills of schoolboy rugby players by playing standards to identify variables differentiating elite from sub-elite players from Under 16 (U16) to U19 age categories.

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This paper draws from qualitative research undertaken with the mothers and primary caregivers of children aged under 5 years old and in recovery from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), as well as other community members, across three study sites in Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The paper highlights how nutrition-related stigma is constructed and enacted in complex ways, by multiple actors and across diverse settings. Adopting an intersectional approach, the paper identifies how stigma emerges at the intersections of social identity, especially age, gender, and associated beliefs about women's, and especially young women's, assumed (in)capacity to care.

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Background: Stroke presents significant challenges for both survivors and caregivers, particularly in resource-limited settings like Zimbabwe. Identifying factors contributing to caregiver burden strain (CBS) is crucial to enhance support strategies.

Objectives: This longitudinal study identified caregiver and stroke survivor characteristics associated with CBS among caregivers in Harare, Zimbabwe.

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Fostering healthy cognitive ageing in people living with HIV.

Lancet HIV

November 2024

MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Prevalence and incidence of HIV among people aged 50 years and older continue to rise worldwide, generating increasing awareness among care providers, scientists, and the HIV community about the importance of brain health in older adults with HIV. Many age-related factors that adversely affect brain health can occur earlier and more often among people with HIV, including epigenetic ageing, chronic medical conditions (eg, cardiovascular disease), and age-related syndromes (eg, frailty). Extensive dialogue between HIV community leaders, health-care providers, and scientists has led to the development of a multidimensional response strategy to protect and enhance brain health in people ageing with HIV that spans across public health, clinical spaces, and research spaces.

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Antibacterial activity of Azanza garckeana extracts (Malvaceae) in vitro and their potential use in respiratory infections.

Microb Pathog

January 2025

Department of Therapeutics, Natural Products Unit, African Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology (AiBST), Wilkins Hospital Block C, Corner J, Tongogara and R. Tangwena road, Harare, Zimbabwe. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • The ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species) are particularly dangerous for people with weakened immune systems, leading to high mortality rates from severe bacterial infections.
  • This study investigated the antibacterial properties of Azanza garckeana leaf and bark extracts against these pathogens using methods like broth microdilution for testing efficacy and GC-MS for analyzing bioactive compounds.
  • Findings revealed that hexane bark extract was highly effective against S. aureus and A. baumannii, while acetone bark extract disrupted bacterial membranes and showed antibiofilm activity against K. pneumonia
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Background: Rotavirus vaccines are moderately protective against illness in high mortality settings compared with low mortality settings. Vaccine effectiveness (VE) evaluations may clarify our understanding of these disparities, but estimates among key subpopulations and against rare outcomes are not available in many analyses due to sample size. We combined 25 datasets from test-negative design case-control evaluations in 24 countries that enrolled children with medically-attended diarrhea, laboratory-confirmed rotavirus stool testing, and documented vaccination status.

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Article Synopsis
  • HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) is a major issue affecting treatment effectiveness for people with HIV, and this study aimed to identify key predictors of HIVDR based on data from a national survey in Zimbabwe.
  • The study found that 44.9% of participants had HIVDR, with higher rates among those with previous virological failures and various factors linked to increased risk, like more lifetime sexual partners and longer time on antiretroviral therapy (ART).
  • Interventions are necessary to tackle HIVDR, as the findings provide valuable insights for developing targeted strategies to improve patient outcomes and prevent resistance.
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Objectives: The widespread adoption of self-testing for SARS-CoV-2 has proven effective in curbing the virus' spread, particularly in Western countries. However, significant knowledge gaps persist regarding the feasibility, acceptance and factors influencing the uptake of self-testing in low-resource areas, notably rural Africa. Our aim was to assess the willingness and capability of rural Zimbabwean participants to self-diagnose COVID-19 using rapid lateral flow tests (LFTs) and adhere to post-positive test guidelines.

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Data-Driven Cutoff Selection for the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 Depression Screening Tool.

JAMA Netw Open

November 2024

Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Importance: Test accuracy studies often use small datasets to simultaneously select an optimal cutoff score that maximizes test accuracy and generate accuracy estimates.

Objective: To evaluate the degree to which using data-driven methods to simultaneously select an optimal Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) cutoff score and estimate accuracy yields (1) optimal cutoff scores that differ from the population-level optimal cutoff score and (2) biased accuracy estimates.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This study used cross-sectional data from an existing individual participant data meta-analysis (IPDMA) database on PHQ-9 screening accuracy to represent a hypothetical population.

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Following the 2018 World Health Organization's (WHO) guidelines on HIV treatment and management, the Zimbabwean government has embraced dolutegravir (DTG)-based regimens as the preferred first-line treatment for people living with HIV (PLWH). Despite this implementation, there remains a paucity of knowledge on the potential associations between DTG-based regimens, body weight and blood lipid levels among PLWH in Zimbabwe. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate variances in body weight and blood lipid levels at two distinct timepoints-baseline and 6-month post-DTG initiation.

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Background: The WHO HIV testing algorithm for high prevalence populations recommends the use of three different serologic assays, though this approach may lead to diagnostic misclassification. The study objective was to compare dried blood spot (DBS)-based HIV-1 nucleic acid detection methods to determine their suitability to confirm the diagnosis of HIV-1 in adults generally with suppressed or low-level plasma HIV-1 RNA.

Methods: Four methods were evaluated: Cepheid Xpert HIV-1 Qual Assay (Xpert), Hologic Aptima HIV-1 Quant Dx assay (Aptima), Roche Cobas Ampliprep/Cobas TaqMan HIV-1 test, v.

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Gastrointestinal parasite prevalence, diversity and association in free-ranging Chacma baboon troops in a semi-arid savanna ecosystem of Zimbabwe.

Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl

December 2024

Scientific Services, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, P.O Box CY 140, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe.

Free-ranging Chacma baboon species are known to harbour a wide range of zoonotic parasites, and their frequent close interactions with humans pose a risk of transmission of zoonotic parasites between the two species. This research study focused on understanding parasite dynamics in free-ranging baboon populations that inhabit human-wildlife interface areas, a case of Gwanda State University's Epoch Mine campus in Filabusi at Insiza district. A descriptive and analytical cross-sectional design was used to investigate the prevalence, diversity and association of gastrointestinal parasites among three baboon troops found at the Epoch Mine campus.

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Aflatoxin B (AFB) and fumonisin B (FB) are poisons that contaminate poorly stored staple foods in resource-limited settings. Antenatal AFB and FB exposure may cause anaemia. We aimed to determine the associations of urinary aflatoxin M (AFM) and FB, biomarkers of AFB and FB exposure, respectively, with erythrocyte parameters and anaemia.

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