Le conseil post-test encourage-t-il les PVVIH &#224 partager leur statut s&#233rologique? Pratiques et suggestions des conseillers au Burkina Faso

Full Title:Le conseil post-test encourage-t-il les PVVIH à partager leur statut sérologique? Pratiques et suggestions des conseillers au Burkina Faso (Does post-test counseling support PLHIV in disclosing their HIV status? Practices and propositions by counselors in Burkina Faso)Le partage du rèsultat du test VIH est, selon les normes, abordé lors du counseling post-test. Cependant, alors que les obstacles au partage d’un résultat VIH positif sont attestés, la littérature reste peu abondante sur la maniére dont les directives sont appliquées sur le terrain. L’objectif de cet article est d’examiner les pratiques de conseil concernant le partage du résultat avec l’entourage rapportées par les clients et les prestataires du conseil et test VIH (CTV) au Burkina Faso. Une enquête transversale a été conduite en milieu urbain et en milieu rural en 2008. Un questionnaire intégrant des questions semi-ouvertes a été utilisé. Un nombre total de 542 personnes qui ont réalisé le test depuis 2007 et 111 prestataires de services de conseil et test VIH ont été interviewés. Les données ont été analysées sur SPSS 12. Seulement 29 % des personnes testées déclarent que le théme du partage du résultat avec l’entourage a été discuté avec elles lors du counseling post-test. Ce résultat s’explique par les incertitudes et les inquiétudes des prestataires sur la maniére de partager et sur les risques de conséquences défavorables du partage. Des stratégies sont développées par les prestataires pour soutenir les personnes dont la séropositivité a été dépistée à partager cette information avec l’entourage mais ils reconnaissent que ces actions sont insuffisantes. Les suggestions des prestataires pour améliorer la situation incluent la lutte contre la stigmatisation vis-à-vis des personnes vivant avec le VIH, le renforcement des compétences des prestataires et l’adoption de textes juridiques pour rendre obligatoire le partage du résultat avec le partenaire. En conclusion, l’étude a identifié plusieurs pistes pour améliorer les pratiques de conseil concernant le partage des résultats au Burkina Faso. Ces observations pourraient avoir une portée globale pour la région Afrique.Mots cle´: partage résultat VIH, rôle des prestataires, conseil post-test, MATCH, Burkina Fas

Necrotising haemorrhagic pancreatitis with intra-abdominal hypertension: Case report

Severe necrotising haemorrhagic pancreatitis is a challenging clinical condition that carries a high mortality especially in resource-limited settings. The management requires a multidisciplinary approach in a well-equipped critical care unit. The decision for operative versus conservative management is a close call and one that continues to challenge clinicians. In this case report, we present a 36 years old HIV-infected African male who presented at a tertiary care teaching and referral hospital in Kenya with worsening intra-abdominal bleeding. We highlight the management challenges faced by clinicians and review the literature on this subject

Jumpstarting Orange- Fleshed Sweetpotato in West Africa through Diversified Markets

This flyer describes the objectives, activities, and progress made in implementing a three-year project that targets informal and formal orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) markets in Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso between June 2014 and July 2015. The project is working towards four major outcomes at each target location: to establish commercial sweetpotato seed systems to provide clean planting material year round; to develop formal and informal markets for OFSP; to enable farmers including women, to participate in OFSP value chains; and to increase consumption of OFSP and other vitamin A-rich foods by vulnerable target populations, particularly women and children under the age of five

Improved multidetector asymmetrical-flow field-flow fractionation method for particle sizing and concentration measurements of lipid-based nanocarriers for RNA delivery

Lipid-based nanoparticles for RNA delivery (LNP-RNA) are revolutionizing the nanomedicine field, with one approved gene therapy formulation and two approved vaccines against COVID-19, as well as multiple ongoing clinical trials. As for other innovative nanopharmaceuticals (NPhs), the advancement of robust methods to assess their quality and safety profiles—in line with regulatory needs—is critical for facilitating their development and clinical translation. Asymmetric-flow field-flow fractionation coupled to multiple online optical detectors (MD-AF4) is considered a very versatile and robust approach for the physical characterisation of nanocarriers, and has been used successfully for measuring particle size, polydispersity and physical stability of lipid-based systems, including liposomes and solid lipid nanoparticles. However, the unique core structure of LNP-RNA, composed of ionizable lipids electrostatically complexed with RNA, and the relatively labile lipid-monolayer coating, is more prone to destabilization during focusing in MD-AF4 than previously characterised nanoparticles, resulting in particle aggregation and sample loss. Hence characterisation of LNP-RNA by MD-AF4 needs significant adaptation of the methods developed for liposomes. To improve the performance of MD-AF4 applied to LNP-RNA in a systematic and comprehensive manner, we have explored the use of the frit-inlet channel where, differently from the standard AF4 channel, the particles are relaxed hydrodynamically as they are injected. The absence of a focusing step minimizes contact between the particle and the membrane, reducing artefacts (e.g. sample loss, particle aggregation). Separation in a frit-inlet channel enables satisfactory reproducibility and acceptable sample recovery in the commercially available MD-AF4 instruments. In addition to slice-by-slice measurements of particle size, MD-AF4 also allows to determine particle concentration and the particle size distribution, demonstrating enhanced versatility beyond standard sizing measurements.publishedVersio

Innovation platforms for agricultural value chain development

Available in Chinese, English, Hindi, Thai and Vietnames

Motional Squashed States

We show that by using a feedback loop it is possible to reduce the fluctuations in one quadrature of the vibrational degree of freedom of a trapped ion below the quantum limit. The stationary state is not a proper squeezed state, but rather a ``squashed'' state, since the uncertainty in the orthogonal quadrature, which is larger than the standard quantum limit, is unaffected by the feedback action.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the special Issue "Quantum Correlations and Fluctuations" of J. Opt.

Phase space geometry and slow dynamics

We describe a non-Arrhenius mechanism for slowing down of dynamics that is inherent to the high dimensionality of the phase space. We show that such a mechanism is at work both in a family of mean-field spin-glass models without any domain structure and in the case of ferromagnetic domain growth. The marginality of spin-glass dynamics, as well as the existence of a `quasi equilibrium regime' can be understood within this scenario. We discuss the question of ergodicity in an out-of equilibrium situation.Comment: 23 pages, ReVTeX3.0, 6 uuencoded postscript figures appende