Influence of Ebola on tuberculosis case finding and treatment outcomes in Liberia.

Setting: National Leprosy and Tuberculosis (TB) Control Programme, Liberia. Objectives: To assess TB case finding, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) associated interventions and treatment outcomes, before (January 2013-March 2014), during (April 2014-June 2015) and after (July-December 2015) the Ebola virus disease outbreak. Design: A cross-sectional study and retrospective cohort analysis of outcomes. Results: The mean quarterly numbers of individuals with presumptive TB and the proportion diagnosed as smear-positive were: pre-Ebola (n = 7032, 12%), Ebola (n = 6147, 10%) and post-Ebola (n = 6795, 8%). For all forms of TB, stratified by category and age group, there was a non-significant decrease in the number of cases from the pre-Ebola to the Ebola and post-Ebola periods. There were significant decreases in numbers of cases with smear-positive pulmonary TB (PTB) from the pre-Ebola period (n = 855), to the Ebola (n = 640, P < 0.001) and post-Ebola (n = 568, P < 0.001) periods. The proportions of patients tested for HIV, found to be HIV-positive and started on antiretroviral therapy decreased as follows: pre-Ebola (respectively 72%, 15% and 34%), Ebola (69%, 14% and 30%) and post-Ebola (68%, 12% and 26%). Treatment success rates among TB patients were: 80% pre-Ebola, 69% Ebola (P < 0.001) and 73% post-Ebola (P < 0.001). Loss to follow-up was the main contributing adverse outcome. Conclusion: The principal negative effects of Ebola were the significant decreases in diagnoses of smear-positive PTB, the declines in HIV testing and antiretroviral therapy uptake and poor treatment success. Ways to prevent these adverse effects from recurring in the event of another Ebola outbreak need to be found

Conversion of shrimp heads to α-glucosidase inhibitors via co-culture of Bacillus mycoides TKU040 and Rhizobium sp. TKU041

[[abstract]]Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors (aGIs) have potential use as antidiabetic drugs for the treatment of type II diabetes. Most aGIs place a burden on the liver and cause gastrointestinal distress, therefore the development of new aGIs has become very important. In this study, we investigated the production of aGIs by the co-culture of Bacillus mycoides TKU040 and Rhizobium sp. TKU041 using shrimp head powder (SHP) as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen. After fermentation in 50 mL of 1% SHP-containing medium (0.1% K2HPO4 and 0.05% MgSO4·7H2O, pH 9.2) at 37 °C for 4 days, the maximum productivity of aGIs (143 U/mL) was reached. The IC50 of the aGIs produced in the culture supernatant was 3 mg/mL. The aGI activity was only 60% after treatment at pH 3 for 30 min; this increased to 140% after treatment at pH 11 for 30 min. The aGI activity remained at 60% after treatment at 60 °C for 30 min.[[sponsorship]]科技部[[notice]]補正完