A qualitative investigation into knowledge, beliefs, and practices surrounding mastitis in sub-Saharan Africa: what implications for vertical transmission of HIV?

BACKGROUND: Mastitis constitutes an important risk factor in HIV vertical transmission. Very little, however, is known on how women in sub-Saharan Africa conceptualise health problems related to breastfeeding, such as mastitis, and how they act when sick. We aimed at filling this gap in knowledge, by documenting the indigenous nosography of mastitis, health seeking behaviour, and remedies for prophylaxis and treatment in rural sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: The study was conducted in the Nouna Health District, rural Burkina Faso. We employed a combination of in-depth individual interviews and focus group discussions reaching both women and guérisseuers. All material was transcribed, translated, and analysed inductively, applying data and analyst triangulation. RESULTS: Respondents perceived breast problems related to lactation to be highly prevalent and described a sequence of symptoms which resembles the biomedical understanding of pathologies related to breastfeeding, ranging from breast engorgement (stasis) to inflammation (mastitis) and infection (breast abscess). The aetiology of disease, however, differed from biomedical notions as both women and guerisseurs distinguished between "natural" and "unnatural" causes of health problems related to breastfeeding. To prevent and treat such pathologies, women used a combination of traditional and biomedical therapies, depending on the perceived cause of illness. In general, however, a marked preference for traditional systems of care was observed. CONCLUSION: Health problems related to breastfeeding are perceived to be very common in rural Burkina Faso. Further epidemiological research to assess the actual prevalence of such pathologies is urgently needed to inform the design of adequate control measures, especially given the impact of mastitis on HIV vertical transmission. Our investigation into local illness concepts and health care seeking behaviour is useful to ensure that such measures be culturally sensitive. Further research into the efficacy of local customs and traditional healing methods and their effect on viral load in breast milk is also urgently needed

The NlpD Lipoprotein Is a Novel Yersinia pestis Virulence Factor Essential for the Development of Plague

Yersinia pestis is the causative agent of plague. Previously we have isolated an attenuated Y. pestis transposon insertion mutant in which the pcm gene was disrupted. In the present study, we investigated the expression and the role of pcm locus genes in Y. pestis pathogenesis using a set of isogenic surE, pcm, nlpD and rpoS mutants of the fully virulent Kimberley53 strain. We show that in Y. pestis, nlpD expression is controlled from elements residing within the upstream genes surE and pcm. The NlpD lipoprotein is the only factor encoded from the pcm locus that is essential for Y. pestis virulence. A chromosomal deletion of the nlpD gene sequence resulted in a drastic reduction in virulence to an LD50 of at least 107 cfu for subcutaneous and airway routes of infection. The mutant was unable to colonize mouse organs following infection. The filamented morphology of the nlpD mutant indicates that NlpD is involved in cell separation; however, deletion of nlpD did not affect in vitro growth rate. Trans-complementation experiments with the Y. pestis nlpD gene restored virulence and all other phenotypic defects. Finally, we demonstrated that subcutaneous administration of the nlpD mutant could protect animals against bubonic and primary pneumonic plague. Taken together, these results demonstrate that Y. pestis NlpD is a novel virulence factor essential for the development of bubonic and pneumonic plague. Further, the nlpD mutant is superior to the EV76 prototype live vaccine strain in immunogenicity and in conferring effective protective immunity. Thus it could serve as a basis for a very potent live vaccine against bubonic and pneumonic plague

Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Yersinia pestis Using Amplification of Plague Diagnostic Bacteriophages Monitored by Real-Time PCR

BACKGROUND: Yersinia pestis, the agent of plague, has caused many millions of human deaths and still poses a serious threat to global public health. Timely and reliable detection of such a dangerous pathogen is of critical importance. Lysis by specific bacteriophages remains an essential method of Y. pestis detection and plague diagnostics. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The objective of this work was to develop an alternative to conventional phage lysis tests--a rapid and highly sensitive method of indirect detection of live Y. pestis cells based on quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) monitoring of amplification of reporter Y. pestis-specific bacteriophages. Plague diagnostic phages phiA1122 and L-413C were shown to be highly effective diagnostic tools for the detection and identification of Y. pestis by using qPCR with primers specific for phage DNA. The template DNA extraction step that usually precedes qPCR was omitted. phiA1122-specific qPCR enabled the detection of an initial bacterial concentration of 10(3) CFU/ml (equivalent to as few as one Y. pestis cell per 1-microl sample) in four hours. L-413C-mediated detection of Y. pestis was less sensitive (up to 100 bacteria per sample) but more specific, and thus we propose parallel qPCR for the two phages as a rapid and reliable method of Y. pestis identification. Importantly, phiA1122 propagated in simulated clinical blood specimens containing EDTA and its titer rise was detected by both a standard plating test and qPCR. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Thus, we developed a novel assay for detection and identification of Y. pestis using amplification of specific phages monitored by qPCR. The method is simple, rapid, highly sensitive, and specific and allows the detection of only live bacteria

A Federal-state Partnership for Mapping Florida\u27s Coast and Sea Floor

The Florida Coastal Mapping Program, a partnership of state and federal agencies, has a goal of having modern, consistent, high-resolution sea-floor data for all of Florida’s coastal zone in the next decade to support a myriad of coastal zone science and management applications. One of the early steps in the implementation process is to prioritize and justify mapping needs. This is accomplished by holding six regional workshops across the state during which stakeholders and partners are introduced to a newly developed geospatial prioritization tool. Users independently utilize the tool to populate grid cells for a given region, and the result is a cumulative perspective on sea floor mapping priorities to inform future mapping initiatives. The tool also allows participants to indicate their primary use of sea floor mapping data and types of additional data required for their science or management need

Modelling of the in-flight synthesis of TaC nanoparticles from liquid precursor in thermal plasma jet

A simple and efficient numerical model describing the processes of nucleation, growth and transport of multi-component nanoparticles is developed. The approach is conceptually similar to the classical method of moments but can be applied to co-condensation of several substances. The processes of homogeneous nucleation, heterogeneous growth, and coagulations due to Brownian collisions are considered in combination with the convective and diffusive transport of particles and reacting gases within multi-dimensional geometries. The model is applied to the analysis of multi-component co-condensation of TaC nanoparticles within a dc plasma reactor

Data supporting the manuscript Genetic Analysis of Harvest Samples Reveals Population Structure in a Highly Mobile Generalist Carnivore

We sampled 1,225 bobcats harvested in South Dakota, USA, (2014–2019) and used 17 microsatellite loci to assess genetic diversity and infer population genetic structure. We assigned individuals to genetic clusters (K) using spatial and nonspatial Bayesian clustering algorithms, and quantified differentiation among clusters. We found support for population genetic structure at K = 2 and K = 4, with weak to moderate differentiation among clusters. File type: .txtFile Size: 206 K

Distribution of Incident Ions and Retained Dose Analysis for a Wedge-Shaped Target in Plasma Source Ion-Implantation

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