Immunologic-based diagnosis of latent tuberculosis among children less than 5 years of age exposed and unexposed to tuberculosis in Tanzania:... (Publications)
those with and without exposure: 20% (38/186) vs. 20% (23/115) QFT-positive, and 2% (4/186) vs. 4% (5/115) indeterminate QFT. QFT conversion rate was 7% (22 children) and reversion 8% (25 children). Of
Spatial PM2.5, NO2, O3 and BC models for Western Europe - evaluation of spatiotemporal stability (Publications)
health relevant air pollutants (PM2.5, NO2, BC, O3) across Europe. METHODS: We developed West-European land use regression models (LUR) for 2010 estimating annual mean PM2.5, NO2, BC and O3 concentrations [...] time, separate models were developed for different years (NO2 and O3: 2000 and 2005; PM2.5: 2013). RESULTS: The PM2.5, BC, NO2, O3 annual, O3 warm season and O3 cold season models explained respectively 72% [...] and 16% of the R(2) in the PM2.5, O3 warm and O3 cold models. Explained...
Comparative genomics of <em>Mycobacterium africanum</em> lineage 5 and lineage 6 from Ghana suggests distinct ecological niches (Publications)
Lineage 5 (L5) and N = 78 Lineage 6 (L6). We found that the genomic diversity of L6 was higher than in L5 despite the smaller sample size. Regulatory proteins appeared to evolve neutrally in L5 but under [...] epitopes overall compared to L5. Of the 10% human T cell epitopes that were variable, most carried mutations that were lineage-specific. Our findings indicate that Maf L5 and L6 differ in some of their
O-5S quantitative real-time PCR: a new diagnostic tool for laboratory confirmation of human onchocerciasis (Publications)
microscopy, O-150 qPCR, and the novel O-5S qPCR. RESULTS: Among the 200 individuals, 133 patients tested positive (positivity rate of 66.5%) and 67 negative by O-5S qPCR, 74 tested positive by microscopy [...] individuals who tested negative by O-5S qPCR tested positive by microscopy or O-150 qPCR, implying 100% specificity of the newly designed O-5S qPCR assay. CONCLUSIONS: The novel O-5S qPCR assay is more sensitive [...] qPCR (39.0%). Among the 133 O-5S qPCR positive individuals, microscopy...
Hourly land-use regression modeling for NO(2) and PM(2.5) in the Netherlands (Publications)
performed overall well (5-fold cross validation R(2) = 0.50 - 0.78), while the PM(2.5) performed moderately (5-fold cross validation R(2) = 0.24 - 0.62). Both for NO(2) and PM(2.5) the warm season models [...] this study we aimed to model average hourly concentrations for two major pollutants, NO(2) and PM(2.5), for the Netherlands using the LUR algorithm. We modelled the spatial variation of average hourly [...] models performed overall worse than both modelling approaches (NO(2) hourly R(2) =...
2,8-disubstituted-1,5-naphthyridines as dual inhibitors of <em>Plasmodium falciparum</em> phosphatidylinositol-4-kinase and hemozoin formation with... (Publications)
studies of 2,8-disubstituted-1,5-naphthyridines, previously reported as potent inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) phosphatidylinositol-4-kinase β (PI4K), identified 1,5-naphthyridines with basic groups
Test-treat-track-test-treat (5T) approach for <em>Schistosoma haematobium</em> elimination on Pemba Island, Tanzania (Publications)
survey was 1.4% (21/1560) in 2021 and 1.5% (24/1645) in 2022. In the household-based survey, it was 3.3% (98/2975) in 2021 and 5.4% (159/2920) in 2022. During the 5T interventions, the microhaematuria prevalence [...] school-based survey in 15 low-prevalence implementation units was 0.5% (7/1560) in 2021 and 0.4% (6/1645) in 2022. In the household-based survey, 0.5% (14/2975) and 0.7% (19/2920) of participants were infected [...] n are needed. We report results, strengths, and shortcomings of...
Incidence of cough from acute exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Madagascar: a pilot study (Publications)
association between hourly PM2.5 exposure and cough counts. Peaks in both PM2.5 concentration and cough frequency were observed during the day. A 10-fold increase in hourly PM2.5 concentration corresponded [...] feasibility of objective PM2.5 and cough monitoring in remote settings. An association between hourly PM2.5 exposure and cough frequency was detected, suggesting that PM2.5 exposure may have immediate effects [...] exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is a known risk to...
TOLLIP and MUC5B modulate the effect of ambient NO(2) on respiratory symptoms in infancy (Publications)
Significant interaction was observed between modelled air pollution (weekly NO(2) exposure) and 5 SNPs within MUC5B and TOLLIP genes regarding respiratory symptoms as outcome: E.g., infants carrying minor alleles [...] BACKGROUND: Current knowledge suggests that the gene region containing MUC5B and TOLLIP plays a role in airway defence and airway inflammation, and hence respiratory disease. It is also known that exposure [...] on the immune response and respiratory symptoms in infants may be...
Association between concurrence of multiple risk factors and under-5 mortality: a pooled analysis of data from demographic and health survey in 61... (Publications)
al strategies to address preventable under-5 mortality (U5M). This study aims to assess the associations between concurrence of multiple risk factors and U5M in LMICs. METHODS: We extracted data from the [...] 61 LMICs. Our primary outcome was U5M, defined as deaths from birth to 59 months. Binary logistic regression model was applied to ascertain the association between U5M and a total of 20 critical risk factors [...] factors in each individual and assessed their combined effects on U5M with...