Uptake of home-based voluntary HIV testing in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Improving access to HIV testing is a key priority in scaling up HIV treatment and prevention services. Home-based voluntary counselling and testing (HBT) as an approach to delivering wide-scale HIV testing is explored here

Epidemiology, Molecular Characterization and Antibiotic Resistance of Neisseria meningitidis from Patients ≤15 Years in Manhiça, Rural Mozambique

BACKGROUND: The epidemiology of meningococcal disease in Mozambique and other African countries located outside the "meningitis belt" remains widely unknown. With the event of upcoming vaccines microbiological and epidemiological information is urgently needed. METHODS: Prospective surveillance for invasive bacterial infections was conducted at the Manhiça District hospital (rural Mozambique) among hospitalized children below 15 years of age. Available Neisseria meningitidis isolates were serogrouped and characterized by Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST). Antibiotic resistance was also determined. RESULTS: Between 1998 and 2008, sixty-three cases of confirmed meningococcal disease (36 meningitis, 26 sepsis and 1 conjunctivitis) were identified among hospitalized children. The average incidence rate of meningococcal disease was 11.6/100,000 (8/100,000 for meningitis and 3.7/100,000 for meningococcemia, respectively). There was a significant rise on the number of meningococcal disease cases in 2005-2006 that was sustained till the end of the surveillance period. Serogroup was determined for 43 of the 63 meningococcal disease cases: 38 serogroup W-135, 3 serogroup A and 2 serogroup Y. ST-11 was the most predominant sequence type and strongly associated with serogroup W-135. Two of the three serogroup A isolates were ST-1, and both serogroup Y isolates were ST-175. N. meningitidis remained highly susceptible to all antibiotics used for treatment in the country, although the presence of isolates presenting intermediate resistance to penicillin advocates for continued surveillance. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show a high rate of meningococcal disease in Manhiça, Mozambique, mainly caused by serogroup W-135 ST-11 strains, and advocates for the implementation of a vaccination strategy covering serogroup W-135 meningococci in the country

Analysing Spatio-Temporal Clustering of Meningococcal Meningitis Outbreaks in Niger Reveals Opportunities for Improved Disease Control

Meningococcal meningitis (MM) is an infection of the meninges caused by a bacterium, Neisseria meningitidis, transmitted through respiratory and throat secretions. It can cause brain damage and results in death in 5–15% of cases. Large epidemics of MM occur almost every year in sub-Saharan Africa during the hot, dry season. Understanding how epidemics emerge and spread in time and space would help public health authorities to develop more efficient strategies for the prevention and the control of meningitis. We studied the spatio-temporal distribution of MM cases in Niger from 2002 to 2009 at the scale of the health centre catchment areas (HCCAs). We found that spatial clusters of cases most frequently occurred within nine districts out of 42, which can assist public health authorities to better adjust allocation of resources such as antibiotics or rapid diagnostic tests. We also showed that the epidemics break out in different HCCAs from year to year and did not follow a systematic geographical direction. Finally, this analysis showed that surveillance at a finer spatial scale (health centre catchment area rather than district) would be more efficient for public health response: outbreaks would be detected earlier and reactive vaccination would be better targeted

Sequencing Lys-N Proteolytic Peptides by ESI and MALDI Tandem Mass Spectrometry

International audienceIn this study, we explored the MS/MS behavior of various synthetic peptides that possess a lysine residue at the N-terminal position. These peptides were designed to mimic peptides produced upon proteolysis by the Lys-N enzyme, a metalloendopeptidase issued from a Japanese fungus Grifola Frondosa that was recently investigated in proteomic studies as an alternative to trypsin digestion since a specific cleavage at the amide X-Lys chain is obtained providing N-terminal lysine peptide fragments. In contrast to tryptic peptides exhibiting a In lysine or arginine residues solely at the C-terminal position, and thus devoid of such basic amino acids within the sequence, these Lys-N proteolytic peptides can contain the highly basic arginine residue anywhere within the peptide chain. The fragmentation patterns of such sequences with ESI-QqTof and MALDI-Tof/Tof mass spectrometers commonly used in proteomic bottom-up experiments were investigated

Characterizing the Intramolecular H-bond and Secondary Structure in Methylated GlyGlyH+ with H2 Predissociation Spectroscopy

Click on the DOI link below to access the article (may not be free).We report vibrational predissociation spectra of the four protonated dipeptides derived from glycine and sarcosine, GlyGlyH(+)center dot(H-2)(1,2), GlySarH(+)center dot(D-2)(2), SarGlyH(+)center dot(H-2)(2), and SarSarH(+)center dot(D-2)(2), generated in a cryogenic ion trap. Sharp bands were recovered by monitoring photoevaporation of the weakly bound H-2 (D-2) molecules in a linear action regime throughout the 700-4200 cm(-1) range using a table-top laser system. The spectral patterns were analyzed in the context of the low energy structures obtained from electronic structure calculations. These results indicate that all four species are protonated on the N-terminus, and feature an intramolecular H-bond involving the amino group. The large blue-shift in the H-bonded N-H fundamental upon incorporation of a methyl group at the N-terminus indicates that this modification significantly lowers the strength of the intramolecular H-bond. Methylation at the amide nitrogen, on the other hand, induces a significant rotation (similar to 110 degrees) about the peptide backbone.Peer reviewe

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United Kingdom and elsewhere: situation at the end of 2005.

By the end of December 2005, a total of 159 cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) had been reported in the United Kingdom, of which 153 have so far resulted in death.</jats:p

Allowing ad libitum sleep during overnight polysomnography affects Multiple Sleep Latency Test results in patients being assessed for hypersomnolence

Allowing ad libitum sleep during overnight polysomnography affects Multiple Sleep Latency Test results in patients being assessed for hypersomnolenc