OPTIMUM SOIL QUALITY ATTRIBUTE LEVELS AND VALUES

We develop a dynamic optimal cropping systems model for the northern Great Plains, taking into account the impact of the system on soil quality attributes organic and inorganic carbon. Continuous wheat and direct planting is the most profitable system under most economic conditions. This system has low soil erosion and results in high soil quality.Land Economics/Use,

Multilocular Cystic Nephroma of the kidney in a young adult: case report

We report the case of a 20-year-old female patient who presented with a left abdominal mass of 4 years duration. Ultrasonography showed a multicystic left renal mass, and intravenous urography revealed a non-functioning kidney. Based on these findings a multicystic renal cell carcinoma was suspected and radical nephrectomy was performed. Histological examination of the resected specimen confirmed the diagnosis of multilocular cystic nephroma. This is a very rare renal tumor with only few cases described in the literature. Based on our case and a review of the literature the epidemiology, pathogenesis and diagnostic features are discussed.Key Words: Cystic nephroma, renal cell carcinoma, kidne

Immunohaematological reference values in human immunodeficiency virus-negative adolescent and adults in rural northern Tanzania

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The amount of CD4 T cells is used for monitoring HIV progression and improvement, and to make decisions to start antiretroviral therapy and prophylactic drugs for opportunistic infections. The aim of this study was to determine normal reference values for CD4 T cells, lymphocytes, leucocytes and haemoglobin level in healthy, HIV negative adolescents and adults in rural northern Tanzania.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross sectional study was conducted from September 2006 to March 2007 in rural northern Tanzania. Participants were recruited from voluntary HIV counselling and testing clinics. Patients were counselled for HIV test and those who consented were tested for HIV. Clinical screening was done, and blood samples were collected for CD4 T cell counts and complete blood cell counts.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We enrolled 102 participants, forty two (41.2%) males and 60 (58.8%) females. The mean age was 32.6 ± 95% CI 30.2–35.0. The mean absolute CD4 T cell count was 745.8 ± 95% CI 695.5–796.3, absolute CD8 T cells 504.6 ± 95% CI 461.7–547.5, absolute leukocyte count 5.1 ± 95% CI 4.8–5.4, absolute lymphocyte count 1.8 ± 95% CI 1.7–1.9, and haemoglobin level 13.2 ± 95% CI 12.7–13.7. Females had significantly higher mean absolute CD4 T cell count (p = 0.008), mean absolute CD8 T cell count (p = 0.009) and significantly lower mean haemoglobin level than males (p = 0.003)</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Immunohaematological values found in this study were different from standard values for western countries. Females had significantly higher mean CD4 T cell counts and lower mean haemoglobin levels than males. This raises the issue of the appropriateness of the present reference values and guidelines for monitoring HIV/AIDS patients in Tanzania.</p

The Evaluation of a Rapid In Situ HIV Confirmation Test in a Programme with a High Failure Rate of the WHO HIV Two-Test Diagnostic Algorithm

BACKGROUND: Concerns about false-positive HIV results led to a review of testing procedures used in a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) HIV programme in Bukavu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. In addition to the WHO HIV rapid diagnostic test algorithm (RDT) (two positive RDTs alone for HIV diagnosis) used in voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) sites we evaluated in situ a practical field-based confirmation test against western blot WB. In addition, we aimed to determine the false-positive rate of the WHO two-test algorithm compared with our adapted protocol including confirmation testing, and whether weakly reactive compared with strongly reactive rapid test results were more likely to be false positives. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: 2864 clients presenting to MSF VCT centres in Bukavu during January to May 2006 were tested using Determine HIV-1/2 and UniGold HIV rapid tests in parallel by nurse counsellors. Plasma samples on 229 clients confirmed as double RDT positive by laboratory retesting were further tested using both WB and the Orgenics Immunocomb Combfirm HIV confirmation test (OIC-HIV). Of these, 24 samples were negative or indeterminate by WB representing a false-positive rate of the WHO two-test algorithm of 10.5% (95%CI 6.6-15.2). 17 of the 229 samples were weakly positive on rapid testing and all were negative or indeterminate by WB. The false-positive rate fell to 3.3% (95%CI 1.3-6.7) when only strong-positive rapid test results were considered. Agreement between OIC-HIV and WB was 99.1% (95%CI 96.9-99.9%) with no false OIC-HIV positives if stringent criteria for positive OIC-HIV diagnoses were used. CONCLUSIONS: The WHO HIV two-test diagnostic algorithm produced an unacceptably high level of false-positive diagnoses in our setting, especially if results were weakly positive. The most probable causes of the false-positive results were serological cross-reactivity or non-specific immune reactivity. Our findings show that the OIC-HIV confirmation test is practical and effective in field contexts. We propose that all double-positive HIV RDT samples should undergo further testing to confirm HIV seropositivity until the accuracy of the RDT testing algorithm has been established at programme level

OPTIMUM SOIL QUALITY ATTRIBUTE LEVELS AND VALUES

We develop a dynamic optimal cropping systems model for the northern Great Plains, taking into account the impact of the system on soil quality attributes organic and inorganic carbon. Continuous wheat and direct planting is the most profitable system under most economic conditions. This system has low soil erosion and results in high soil quality

SOIL QUALITY ATTRIBUTE TIME PATHS: OPTIMAL LEVELS AND VALUES

We develop a dynamic soil quality model to evaluate optimal cropping systems in the northern Great Plains. Modeling soil quality attributes is feasible, and attribute model results apply to a wide range of soils. A crop production system with continuous spring wheat and direct planting is the most profitable system. This system has low soil erosion and high quality attributes, indicating the benefits of increased soil quality exceed the higher maintenance costs. On-site value of additional soil organic carbon (OC) ranges from $1 to$4/ton OC/hectare/year. These values for soil OC impact the optimum tillage practice, but not the crop rotation

Risk factors associated with failure of syndromic treatment of sexually transmitted diseases among women seeking primary care in Addis Ababa

Methods: Women with symptomatic STDs seeking care in a health centre were prospectively enrolled. A total of 259 women were interviewed and underwent clinical examination; 106 were enrolled and received syndromic STD treatment and 91% returned for follow up. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors associated with treatment failure. Results: Of the 106 women enrolled and presenting with symptomatic STDs 67% were HIV seropositive. Syndromic STD treatment did not result in clinical improvement in 30% of the women. Having genital ulcer disease, genital ulcer disease with genital discharge, genital warts, bacterial vaginosis and plasma HIV-1 load >10 000 copies RNA/ml or being HIV seropositive were all significantly associated with treatment failure. In multivariate analysis, however, only genital ulcer disease was significantly associated with treatment failure. Conclusion: In our setting, the association between HIV and genital ulcer disease caused by herpes may, therefore, be the reason for the failure of treatment