Modeling hormonal and inflammatory contributions to preterm and term labor using uterine temporal transcriptomics.

Background: Preterm birth is now recognized as the primary cause of infant mortality worldwide. Interplay between hormonal and inflammatory signaling in the uterus modulates the onset of contractions; however, the relative contribution of each remains unclear. In this study we aimed to characterize temporal transcriptome changes in the uterus preceding term labor and preterm labor (PTL) induced by progesterone withdrawal or inflammation in the mouse and compare these findings with human data.

The global roadmap for advancing development of vaccines against sexually transmitted infections: Update and next steps.

In 2014, the World Health Organization, the US National Institutes of Health, and global technical partners published a comprehensive roadmap for development of new vaccines against sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Since its publication, progress has been made in several roadmap activities: obtaining better epidemiologic data to establish the public health rationale for STI vaccines, modeling the theoretical impact of future vaccines, advancing basic science research, defining preferred product characteristics for first-generation vaccines, and encouraging investment in STI vaccine development. This article reviews these overarching roadmap activities, provides updates on research and development of individual vaccines against herpes simplex virus, Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Treponema pallidum, and discusses important next steps to advance the global roadmap for STI vaccine development.

An Empiric HIV Risk Scoring Tool to Predict HIV-1 Acquisition in African Women.

Objective: To develop and validate an HIV risk assessment tool to predict HIV acquisition among African women.

Design: Data were analyzed from 3 randomized trials of biomedical HIV prevention interventions among African women (VOICE, HPTN 035, and FEM-PrEP).

Methods: We implemented standard methods for the development of clinical prediction rules to generate a risk-scoring tool to predict HIV acquisition over the course of 1 year.

Low Receipt and Uptake of Safer Conception Messages in Routine HIV Care: Findings From a Prospective Cohort of Women Living With HIV in South Africa.

Background: Safer conception strategies may be used by people living with HIV to reduce HIV transmission to partners resulting from condomless sex for conception. The extent to which people living with HIV receive safer conception messages and use risk reduction strategies is largely unknown.

Methods: We use prospective data from a clinic-based cohort study in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Comparison of a Real-Time Multiplex PCR and Sequetyping Assay for Pneumococcal Serotyping.

Background: Pneumococcal serotype identification is essential to monitor pneumococcal vaccine effectiveness and serotype replacement. Serotyping by conventional serological methods are costly, labour-intensive, and require significant technical expertise. We compared two different molecular methods to serotype pneumococci isolated from the nasopharynx of South African infants participating in a birth cohort study, the Drakenstein Child Health Study, in an area with high 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) coverage.

Antiquity of the South Atlantic Anomaly and evidence for top-down control on the geodynamo.

The dramatic decay of dipole geomagnetic field intensity during the last 160 years coincides with changes in Southern Hemisphere (SH) field morphology and has motivated speculation of an impending reversal. Understanding these changes, however, has been limited by the lack of longer-term SH observations. Here we report the first archaeomagnetic curve from southern Africa (ca.

Specific Lipopolysaccharide Serotypes Induce Differential Maternal and Neonatal Inflammatory Responses in a Murine Model of Preterm Labor.

Intrauterine inflammation is recognized as a key mediator of both normal and preterm birth but is also associated with neonatal neurological injury. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is often used to stimulate inflammatory pathways in animal models of infection/inflammation-induced preterm labor; however, inconsistencies in maternal and neonatal responses to LPS are frequently reported. We hypothesized that LPS serotype-specific responses may account for a portion of these inconsistencies.

Systemic gene delivery following intravenous administration of AAV9 to fetal and neonatal mice and late-gestation nonhuman primates.

Several acute monogenic diseases affect multiple body systems, causing death in childhood. The development of novel therapies for such conditions is challenging. However, improvements in gene delivery technology mean that gene therapy has the potential to treat such disorders.

Characteristics of Women Enrolled into a Randomized Clinical Trial of Dapivirine Vaginal Ring for HIV-1 Prevention.

Introduction: Women in sub-Saharan Africa are a priority population for evaluation of new biomedical HIV-1 prevention strategies. Antiretroviral pre-exposure prophylaxis is a promising prevention approach; however, clinical trials among young women using daily or coitally-dependent products have found low adherence. Antiretroviral-containing vaginal microbicide rings, which release medication over a month or longer, may reduce these adherence challenges.

Regionally-specified second trimester fetal neural stem cells reveals differential neurogenic programming.

Neural stem/progenitor cells (NSC) have the potential for treatment of a wide range of neurological diseases such as Parkinson Disease and multiple sclerosis. Currently, NSC have been isolated only from hippocampus and subventricular zone (SVZ) of the adult brain. It is not known whether NSC can be found in all parts of the developing mid-trimester central nervous system (CNS) when the brain undergoes massive transformation and growth.

Pitfalls in penetrating thoracic trauma (lessons we learned the hard way...).

The majority of patients with penetrating thoracic trauma are managed non-operatively. Those requiring surgery usually go to theater with physiological instability. The critical condition of these patients coupled with the rarity of penetrating thoracic trauma in most European countries makes their surgical management challenging for the occasional trauma surgeon, who is usually trained as a general surgeon.

Diaphragm and lubricant gel for prevention of HIV acquisition in southern African women: a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Female-controlled methods of HIV prevention are urgently needed. We assessed the effect of provision of latex diaphragm, lubricant gel, and condoms (intervention), compared with condoms alone (control) on HIV seroincidence in women in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Methods: We did an open-label, randomised controlled trial in HIV-negative, sexually active women recruited from clinics and community-based organisations, who were followed up quarterly for 12-24 months (median 21 months).

The scandal of manhood: 'Baby rape' and the politicization of sexual violence in post-apartheid South Africa.

This paper traces the genealogy of sexual violence as a public and political issue in South Africa, from its initial marginalization and minimization during the apartheid era, through to the explosion of anguish and anger which marked the post-apartheid moment, and most dramatically the years 2001 and 2002. Of particular interest is the question of how and why the problem of sexual violence came to be seen as a scandal of manhood, putting male sexuality under critical public scrutiny. The paper argues that the sudden, intense eruption of public anxiety and argument about sexual violence which marked the post-apartheid period had relatively little to do with feminist analysis and politics (influential though this has been in some other respects).

"Primary" antiphospholipid syndrome evolving into Waldenstrom's macroglobulinaemia: a case report.

A 57-year-old woman with a history of transient ischaemic attacks and six recurrent foetal losses accompanied by elevations of antiphospholipid antibodies was diagnosed as having a "primary" antiphospholipid syndrome. She was followed up for 5 years, and she developed anaemia, leucopenia and splenomegaly. A bone marrow trephine was diagnostic of Waldenstrom's macroglobulinaemia.

Pregnancy outcomes in urban black South African women aged 35 years and older.

We measured maternal and fetal outcomes for black South African women of age 35 years and above, compared with younger controls. The study was carried out at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Maternity Hospital and the Soweto Community Health Centres, that provide maternity services for urban black pregnant women. This was a retrospective pregnancy cohort, comparing pregnant women aged 35 and above with a control group aged 20-29 years.

Prevalence of stroke survivors in rural South Africa: results from the Southern Africa Stroke Prevention Initiative (SASPI) Agincourt field site.

Background And Purpose: The importance of stroke in low-income regions such as sub-Saharan Africa has recently been emphasized. However, little is known about the burden of stroke in sub-Saharan Africa. We investigated the prevalence of stroke survivors in the Agincourt Health and Population Unit, a demographic surveillance site in the rural northeast of South Africa.

Coexistence of urethritis with genital ulcer disease in South Africa: influence on provision of syndromic management.

Objective: To assess whether syndromic management of genital ulcer disease was sound, if based on the premise that men with genital ulcers rarely have a concomitant urethral infection.

Methods: Specimens were taken in 1998 from 186 mine workers in Carletonville, South Africa, who were seen consecutively with genital ulcers. The specimens comprised a swab from the ulcer, a urethral swab for a Gram stained smear, and 10-15 ml of a first catch urine sample.

Man of destiny: the life and work of Fritz Haber.

'The German physical chemist Fritz Haber was distinguished not only for his researches, but also for his services to industry and to his country. Haber and the research institutes he directed contributed to a wide range of advances in physical chemistry. His most outstanding scientific achievement was his synthesis of ammonia, which solved the urgent problem of meeting the world demand for nitrogen fertiliser'.

Antoine Béchamp: pere de la biologie. Oui ou non?

There is an alternative medicine lobby that, in conjunction with antivivisectionists, believes Louis Pasteur to have been a fraud [R. Bottomley's You Don't Have to Feel Unwell! (Newleaf, 1994) is a recent example]. They frame their accusations around a rivalry between Pasteur and a contemporary, Antoine Béchamp, from whom they suggest Pasteur stole his ideas and then distorted them for his own purposes.

Maternal health services in South Africa. During the 10th anniversary of the WHO 'Safe Motherhood' initiative.

The tenth anniversary of the World Health Organisation's 'Safe Motherhood' initiative is being celebrated this year and the organisation is using the opportunity to assess critically its gains, its strengths and its weaknesses. South Africa has taken some bold steps to address maternal health services, specifically introducing free health care for pregnant women and children under 5. In this paper we explore what further steps are necessary to ensure improved health outcome for pregnant women.

Developing a plan for primary health care facilities in Soweto, South Africa. Part II: Applying locational criteria.

This article is the second of a two-part series describing the development of a ten-year plan for primary health care facility development in Soweto. The first article concentrated on the political problems and general methodological approach of the project. This second article describes how the technical problem of planning in the context of scanty information was overcome.