Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Ccl2 Responses To Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Are Associated With Disease Severity In Tuberculosis, Zahra Hasan, Jacqueline M. Cliff, Hazel M. Dockrell, Bushra Jamil, Muhammad Irfan, Mussarat Ashraf, Rabia Hussain

Section of Pulmonary & Critical Care

Background

Leucocyte activating chemokines such as CCL2, CCL3, and CXCL8 together with proinflammatory IFNγ, TNFα and downmodulatory IL10 play a central role in the restriction of M. tuberculosis infections, but is unclear whether these markers are indicative of tuberculosis disease severity.

Methodology

We investigated live M. tuberculosis- and M. bovis BCG- induced peripheral blood mononuclear cell responses in patients with tuberculosis (TB) and healthy endemic controls (ECs, n = 36). TB patients comprised pulmonary (PTB, n = 34) and extrapulmonary groups, subdivided into those with less severe localized extrapulmonary TB (L-ETB, n = 16) or severe disseminated ETB (D-ETB, …

Hiv/Aids And Pregnancy-Related Deaths In Blantyre, Malawi, V. M. Lema, C. Kanyighe, J. Changole, E. V. Malunga

Obstetrics and Gynaecology, East Africa

Background: HIV/AIDS epidemic is one of the major factors affecting women’s health and impeding national efforts to improve it especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Current evidence indicates that HIV/ AIDS is increasingly becoming a major cause or contributing factor to pregnancy-related deaths, almost overtaking the “traditional” causes and factors.

Objectives: To survey the contribution of HIV infection and AIDS to pregnancy-related deaths in Blantyre, Malawi.

Design: A retrospective, descriptive, facility-based survey.

Setting: The Queen Elizabeth Central Teaching Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi.

Subjects: All women recorded to have had pregnancy-related deaths between January 1, 1999 and December 31, 2000.

Results: There were …

The Influence Of Antiretroviral Therapy On Qtc Interval Amongst Hiv Patients At Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi, Jay Shavadia

Theses & Dissertations

Aim: To determine the influence of antiretroviral (ARV) therapy on the QT_C interval amongst HIV-infected patients.

Design: Prospective Comparative survey of two population samples

Patients and Setting: One hundred and thirty ARV naïve and one hundred and thirty treated HIV-positive patients selected from in and out patient departments of Aga Khan University Hospital underwent clinical evaluation and 12 lead resting ECG between August 2008 and March 2009.

Methodology: Eligible HIV-positive patients were conveniently sampled and had a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) performed to determine the QTinterval, corrected for the heart rate by the Bazzet formula. Analysis was then performed to …

The Importance Of Hiv Specialist Services For African Women Living With Hiv In Nottingham: Results Of A Qualitative Study, Eunice Ndirangu, Catrin Evans

School of Nursing & Midwifery, East Africa

This article reports the results of a qualitative study of the experiences of African women living with HIV in Nottingham, UK. Globally, sub-Saharan Africa is the region most severely affected by the HIV pandemic [1]. This pattern is also reflected in the UK where African migrants make up 27% of those diagnosed with HIV despite the fact that they constitute less than 1% of the population [2-4]. Healthcare staff play a central role in meeting the prevention and care needs of people living with HIV/AIDS [5]. In contexts of increasing migration, health workers are called upon to recognise the diverse …

'People Are Creating Policy Up There, They Are Not Coming Down': Nurses' Views On The Expansion Of Routine Provider-Initiated Hiv Testing And Counselling In Nairobi, Kenya., Catrin Evans, Eunice Ndirangu

School of Nursing & Midwifery, East Africa

In this report, we present selected findings from an exploratory piece of qualitative research on HIV testing that was undertaken in 2007-2008 with nurses in Nairobi, Kenya. At the same time, we share our own story of how this research came about and how NHIVNA research funding was able to lay the foundations for a larger study that will hopefully give voice to patients and HIV nurses in Nairobi and will develop HIV nursing research capacity in the country.