Dolutegravir- Versus Efavirenz-Based Treatment in Pregnancy: Impact on Red Blood Cell Folate Concentrations in Pregnant Women and Their Infants.

Background: In the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) 2010/VESTED study, pregnant women were randomized to initiate dolutegravir (DTG) + emtricitabine (FTC)/tenofovir alafenamide (TAF), DTG + FTC/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), or efavirenz (EFV)/FTC/TDF.

Methods: We assessed red blood cell (RBC) folate concentrations at maternal study entry and delivery, and infant birth. RBC folate outcomes were (1) maternal change entry to delivery (trajectory), (2) infant, and (3) ratio of infant-to-maternal delivery.

Transient increased risk of influenza infection following RSV infection in South Africa: findings from the PHIRST study, South Africa, 2016-2018.

Background: Large-scale prevention of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection may have ecological consequences for co-circulating pathogens, including influenza. We assessed if and for how long RSV infection alters the risk for subsequent influenza infection.

Methods: We analysed a prospective longitudinal cohort study conducted in South Africa between 2016 and 2018.

Improved accuracy of a novel fluoroscopy-based robotically assisted THA system compared to manual THA.

Accurate acetabular cup position remains a persistent challenge in total hip arthroplasty (THA). Studies investigating the early outcomes of robotic-assisted THA (RA-THA) systems have shown improved cup placement compared to manual THA (mTHA) approaches, however, contemporary robotic platforms are reliant on pre-operative CT imaging. The goal of this study was to analyze the accuracy of a novel, fluoroscopy-based RA-THA system compared to an unassisted mTHA approach and determine the effect of the robotic system on operative time.

Who is at Risk? Social Support, Relationship Dissolution, and Illness in a Rural Context.

This study focuses on a cohort of adults (40-plus) in rural South Africa to unpack associations between physical health and receipt of social support, and the extent to which these associations were moderated by marital status. We use logistic regression to estimate the odds of having received emotional, physical, or financial support separately for men ( = 2247) and women ( = 2609). Our results suggest having an Activity of Daily Living (ADL) limitation or having at least one chronic condition was not significantly associated with social support receipt for women, but having an ADL limitation was associated with reduced odds of receiving financial support among men.

Support in times of need: How depressive symptoms can impact receipt of social support among aging adults in rural South Africa.

The relationship between mental health and receipt of social support is not well understood in low- and middle-income countries. In this paper, we focus on a cohort of older adults (40-plus) in rural South Africa to unpack associations between mental health and receipt of social support, and the extent to which marital status modifies these associations. We use baseline data from a population-based study, Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI), conducted between 2014 and 2015.

Hominin vertebrae and upper limb bone fossils from Sterkfontein Caves, South Africa (1998-2003 excavations).

Objectives: We provide descriptions and functional interpretations of 11 >2.0 Ma hominin vertebral and upper limb fossils from Sterkfontein.

Materials And Methods: We employed taphonomic methods to describe postmortem damage observed on the fossils.

Breathalysing and surveying river users in Australia to understand alcohol consumption and attitudes toward drowning risk.

Background: Little is known about people's river usage, a leading drowning location. This study examines alcohol consumption patterns of river users and their attitudes to drowning risk.

Methods: A convenience sample of adult (18+ years) river users were surveyed at four river locations.

Exploring visitation at rivers to understand drowning risk.

Introduction: Globally, rivers are a common drowning location. In Australia, rivers are the leading location for fatal drowning. Limited information exists on exposure and impact on river drowning risk.

Hominin hand bone fossils from Sterkfontein Caves, South Africa (1998-2003 excavations).

We describe eleven hominin metacarpals and phalanges recovered from Jacovec Cavern and Member 4 of the Sterkfontein Formation between 1998 and 2003. Collectively, the fossils date in excess of 2.0 Ma, and are probably attributable to Australopithecus africanus and/or Australopithecus prometheus.

Uncoupling effect of palmitate is exacerbated in skeletal muscle mitochondria of sea-acclimatized king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus).

In king penguin juveniles, the environmental transition from a terrestrial to a marine habitat, occurring at fledging, drastically stimulates lipid catabolism and the remodelling of muscle mitochondria to sustain extensive swimming activity and thermoregulation in the cold circumpolar oceans. However, the exact nature of these mechanisms remains only partially resolved. Here we investigated, in vitro, the uncoupling effect of increasing doses of fatty acids in pectoralis muscle intermyofibrillar mitochondria isolated, either from terrestrial never-immersed or experimentally cold water immersed pre-fledging king penguins or from sea-acclimatized fledged penguins.

"I get hungry all the time": experiences of poverty and pregnancy in an urban healthcare setting in South Africa.

Background: For pregnancy to result in a healthy mother and infant, women require adequate nutrition and to be able to access antenatal care, both of which require finances. While most women working in the formal sector in South Africa obtain some form of maternity leave, unemployed women receive no such support. Additional interventions in the form of expanded social assistance to vulnerable pregnant women are needed.

Eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV-1 and keeping mothers alive: recent progress.

The elimination of new HIV infections in infants and children is part of a broader global commitment by the United Nations. Prevention of Mother to Child transmission (PMTCT) programmes have prevented 350,000 new HIV infections with the use of antiretroviral therapy (ARVs) for pregnant women who are HIV infected, and the majority of these gains were in sub-Saharan Africa. Coverage of PMTCT programmes throughout Africa is variable resulting in many women not having access to the appropriate interventions in the antenatal care setting to prevent vertical transmission.

Development of a measure of family-centred care for resource-poor South African settings: the experience of using a modified version of the MPOC-20.

Background: The Measure of Processes of Care (MPOC) is a widely used tool to assess parents' self-reported experiences of family-centred behaviours of paediatric rehabilitation services. It has never been used in resource-constrained settings or in a cross-cultural environment where cultural and language differences may complicate effective implementation of family-centred services. In this study, the MPOC-20 was used as the starting point for the development of a measure of family-centred care in disadvantaged South African settings.

Regulating developments in embryonic stem cell research in Africa: a third person's perspective.

Among the many advances in modern biotechnology, embryonic stem (ES) cell research has raised perhaps the most intense debate over the ethical, legal and policy issues involved. This debate has centred inter alia on the lives and well-being of the donors or participants in clinical trials, the presumed lives of embryos, the possibility of reproductive cloning, and government funding, among others. These ethical, legal and policy issues tend to overlap and cut across all strata of society, with opponents of the research calling for prohibition and proponents calling for promotion.

CC chemokines and protective immunity: insights gained from mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

Maternal-infant transmission provides a useful model for the study of immune factors associated with protection against the acquisition of human immunodeficiency virus and has emphasized the importance of CCL3 in protective immunity to this virus.

Immune pathogenesis of pediatric HIV-1 infection.

Vertical exposure to HIV occurs at a time when functional capacity of the infant's immune system is attenuated through immaturity. Immune response capability is rooted in host genetic makeup, and the broad and fine specificity of innate and adaptive immune responses, respectively, shape the outcomes of HIV encounter in some instances and imprint viral changes through selective immune pressure in others. Findings from recent studies have profound implications for understanding immune pathogenesis of pediatric HIV infection and, in particular, highlight the importance of host genetics of both mother and child in determining whether an exposed child acquires HIV infection or not and, if infected, the rate of disease progression.

Study of critically ill patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objectives: To determine the presenting features, prognostic factors, course, and outcome of critically ill patients with systemic lupus erythematosus admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

Design: Retrospective patient record review.

Setting: Two academic teaching hospitals.

Three-dimensional computed tomography reconstruction in treatment planning for large ameloblastoma.

A case of an unusually large mandibular ameloblastoma is reported in which standard radiologic examination failed to provide adequate visualization of the tumor's limits because of overlapping structures and the presence of compound shadows. Computed tomography imaging and three-dimensional reconstruction proved invaluable in the treatment planning of this large lesion, because it allowed the surgeon to visualize and comprehend the geography of the tumor and its relationship to surrounding structures and soft tissues and to formulate a surgical plan. Use of this technique helped ensure complete excision of the tumor without excessive removal of uninvolved tissue.

Is registrarship a different experience for women?

Objective: To determine differences between male and female registrars in their subjective perceptions and experience of a paediatrics registrar training programme.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: University-affiliated teaching hospitals.

Serum levels of free 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D in vitamin D toxicity.

Objective: To determine the serum level of free 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25-(OH)2D] in patients with vitamin D toxicity and to assess the in vitro effect of differing concentrations of vitamin D metabolites on the free serum levels of 1,25-(OH)2D.

Design: 1) A case study of patients hospitalized with vitamin D toxicity after accidentally ingesting a veterinary vitamin D concentrate and 2) an in vitro experiment in which vitamin D metabolites in various concentrations were added to normal serum and their effect was noted on percentage of free 1,25-(OH)2D.

Patients: 11 patients (age range, 8 to 69 years) were studied 10 to 40 days after hospitalization for hypercalcemia.