Value of clinical algorithms to screen for gonococcal and chlamydial infection among women attending antenatal and family planning clinics

Objectives. To determine the value of using KwaZulu-Natal; Provincial Health Department algorithms for sexually transmitted disease (STD) treatment to detect infection with Neisseria gonorrhoeae and/or Chlamydia trachomatis among women attending antenatal and family planning clinics. Methods. 327 women attending antenatal clinics and 189 attending a family planning clinic in Hlabisa, KwaZulu-Natal, were questioned and examined clinically and microbiologically. Data were used to determine the sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of the algorithm used with a speculum and the algorithm when no speculum was available. Results. Prevalence of infection with N. gonorrhaeae and/or C. trachomatis was high among both pregnant women (18.9%) and those attending the family planning clinic (11.1%). Associations between abnormal. symptoms and signs and infection were weak, odds ratios ranging from 1.1 to 5.4. Both algorithms performed poorly with sensitivity ranging from 42.9% to 70.0%, specificity from 30.7% to 75.6%, and positive predictive values from 17% to 18.8%. Conclusions. Prevalence of infection is high among these women. The algorithms tested perform poorly - most infected women remain untreated and most of those treated are uninfected. Alternative strategies for diagnosis and/or treatment are required.6 page(s

Detection of mutations in the gyrA of clinical Salmonella spp.

The high prevalence of resistance to nalidixic acid and reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin of Salmonella spp. obtained from stool samples of neonates presenting with acute diarrhea in 2001 at the King Edward VIII hospital in Durban, South Africa, prompted this study to determine if there were any mutations in the QRDR of these isolates and to search for the qnrA gene. All isolates with nalidixic acid MICs > 48 μg/ml had the single mutation D87N, or D87G in the QRDR of the gyrA gene, and only 2 strains had an additional mutation; S83L and S83F respectively. The mutation S83T was present in only one isolate with the nalidixic acid MIC of 10 μg/ml whilst the 6 other strains with nalidixic acid MICs < 10 μg/ml had no changes in the QRDR of the gyrA gene. The qnrA gene was not found. These findings indicate that there are mutations in the gyrA of Salmonella isolates which could contribute to resistance to nalidixic acid with reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin and there is the co-expression of quinolone and extended-spectrum ß-lactam resistance among Salmonella spp

The design, construction, and commissioning of the KATRIN experiment

The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment, which aims to make a direct and model-independent determination of the absolute neutrino mass scale, is a complex experiment with many components. More than 15 years ago, we published a technical design report (TDR) [1] to describe the hardware design and requirements to achieve our sensitivity goal of 0.2 eV at 90% C.L. on the neutrino mass. Since then there has been considerable progress, culminating in the publication of first neutrino mass results with the entire beamline operating [2]. In this paper, we document the current state of all completed beamline components (as of the first neutrino mass measurement campaign), demonstrate our ability to reliably and stably control them over long times, and present details on their respective commissioning campaigns

Measurement of event-shape observables in Z→ℓ+ℓ− events in pp collisions at √ s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Event-shape observables measured using charged particles in inclusive $Z$-boson events are presented, using the electron and muon decay modes of the $Z$ bosons. The measurements are based on an integrated luminosity of $1.1 {\rm fb}^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. Charged-particle distributions, excluding the lepton--antilepton pair from the $Z$-boson decay, are measured in different ranges of transverse momentum of the $Z$ boson. Distributions include multiplicity, scalar sum of transverse momenta, beam thrust, transverse thrust, spherocity, and $\mathcal{F}$-parameter, which are in particular sensitive to properties of the underlying event at small values of the $Z$-boson transverse momentum. The Sherpa event generator shows larger deviations from the measured observables than Pythia8 and Herwig7. Typically, all three Monte Carlo generators provide predictions that are in better agreement with the data at high $Z$-boson transverse momenta than at low $Z$-boson transverse momenta and for the observables that are less sensitive to the number of charged particles in the event.Comment: 36 pages plus author list + cover page (54 pages total), 14 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC, All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2014-0

Mass distribution in the Galactic Center based on interferometric astrometry of multiple stellar orbits

Galaxie

Vaginal tampons as specimen collection device for the molecular diagnosis of non-ulcerative sexually transmitted infections in antenatal clinic attendees.

Item does not contain fulltextSelf-inserted vaginal tampons for the molecular diagnosis of non-ulcerative STIs were evaluated. Cervical and vaginal swabs, tampons and urines were collected from 185 first-time antenatal clinic attendees. Cultures and nucleic acid amplification assays (NAA) were performed. The sensitivity of PCR on tampons for Trichomonas vaginalis was with 94% (CI 85-98%) significantly higher (P<0.001) than culture (50%, CI 38-62%) or urine (53%, CI 41-65%). Neisseria gonorrhoeae culture had a sensitivity of 64% (CI 36-86%), strand displacement assay (SDA) had a sensitivity of 79% (CI 49-94%) using tampon specimens, 57% (CI 30-81%) using endocervical swabs and 43% (CI 19-70%) using urines. There was no difference in sensitivity of SDA for Chlamydia trachomatis using tampon specimens, urine or endocervical swabs. The specificity approached 100% for all assays on all specimens. NAA on tampons for the detection of T. vaginalis, N. gonorrhoeae and C. trachomatis identified more infections than assays on swabs or urines. This reached statistical significance for T. vaginalis only

Resistance to antituberculosis drugs in rural South Africa: Rates, patterns, risks, and transmission dynamics

This study describes the rate, pattern, and transmission dynamics of, and risk factors for, isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistant to antituberculosis drugs in a rural South African health district. Twenty-one of 254 (7.6%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 4.8-11.4) isolates from incident cases were resistant to at least one drug (isoniazid, rifampicin, streptomycin, ethambutol). A random sample of 28 otherwise susceptible isolates and all 21 resistant isolates were susceptible to pyrazinamide. There was one case of combined isoniazid/rifampicin resistance. The rate of initial resistance was 8.1% (95% CI 4.9-12.4) and of acquired resistance 6.2% (95% CI 1.9-14.2). Age, sex, known human immunodeficiency virus status, and previous treatment history were not associated with drug resistance. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of 13 of the 21 resistant specimens showed 12 different banding patterns. Rates of drug resistance were low in this representative sample of patients from a defined geographical area. Previous treatment history was probably not a risk factor because of the use of multiple drug regimes, directly observed therapy, and the high completion rates in those previously treated. Although limited in number, the RFLP data suggested that recent local transmission of resistant strains was not occurring to a significant extent. Drug resistance in patients with tuberculosis (TB) is a cause of treatment failure and relapse, and contributes to the development of multiple-drug resistance. Consecutive incident adult patients diagnosed with sputum smear-positive TB during 1994 in Hlabisa Hospital, northern KwaZulu/Natal, were studied to describe the rate, pattern, and transmission dynamics of, and risk factors for, isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistant to antituberculosis drugs. Cases currently being treated and followed were excluded from study. There were 354 incident cases of sputum smear-positive pulmonary TB registered at the hospital in 1994, although sputum specimens for culture were obtained from only 335 patients. 21 isolates from incident cases were at least partially resistant to at least either isoniazid, rifampicin, streptomycin, or ethambutol. A random sample of 28 otherwise susceptible isolates and all 21 resistant isolates were susceptible to pyrazinamide. There was one case of combined isoniazid/rifampicin resistance. The rates of initial and acquired resistance were 8.1% and 6.2%, respectively. Age, sex, known HIV status, and previous treatment history were not associated with drug resistance. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of 13 of the 21 resistant specimens identified 12 different banding patterns, suggesting the absence of any significant recent local transmission of resistant strains

Linear solvability in the viewing graph

The Viewing Graph [1] represents several views linked by the corresponding fundamental matrices, estimated pairwise. Given a Viewing Graph, the tuples of consistent camera matrices form a family that we call the Solution Set. This paper provides a theoretical framework that formalizes different properties of the topology, linear solvability and number of solutions of multi-camera systems. We systematically characterize the topology of the Viewing Graph in terms of its solution set by means of the associated algebraic bilinear system. Based on this characterization, we provide conditions about the linearity and the number of solutions and define an inductively constructible set of topologies which admit a unique linear solution. Camera matrices can thus be retrieved efficiently and large viewing graphs can be handled in a recursive fashion. The results apply to problems such as the projective reconstruction from multiple views or the calibration of camera networks. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg