Publications

Economic challenges associated with tuberculosis diagnostic development

Post Date: 
2014-08-15
Publication: 
Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research
Tuberculosis remains a global health crisis in part due to underdiagnosis. Technological innovations are needed to improve diagnostic test accuracy and reduce the reliance on expensive laboratory infrastructure. However, there are significant economic challenges impeding the development and...

Editorial commentary: Xpert MTB/RIF testing for individuals with presumed tuberculosis: implications for infection control and rapid tuberculosis detection in the United States.

Post Date: 
2014-08-04
Publication: 
Clinical Infectious Diseases
Country: 
United States
Despite recent declines in incidence, tuberculosis remains a significant public health problem in the United States, with almost 10 000 new cases each year. As the disease becomes less common in the United States, diagnostic delays occur because of diverse clinical presentations and suboptimal...

Cell phone utilization among foreign-born latinos: a promising tool for dissemination of health and HIV information

Post Date: 
2014-08-01
Publication: 
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Country: 
United States
Latinos in the U.S. are disproportionately affected by HIV and are at risk for late presentation to care. Between June 2011 and January 2012, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of 209 Baltimore Latinos at community-based venues to evaluate the feasibility of using communication technology (ICT)-...

Impact of maternal hepatitis B virus coinfection on mother-to-child transmission of HIV

Post Date: 
2014-07-15
Publication: 
HIV Medicine
Country: 
India
Objectives: Despite high hepatitis B virus (HBV) endemicity in various resource-limited settings (RLSs), the impact of maternal HIV/HBV coinfection on infant health outcomes has not been defined. We aimed to assess the prevalence of HBV coinfection among HIV-infected pregnant women and its impact...

25-Hydroxyvitamin D insufficiency and deficiency is associated with HIV disease progression and virological failure post-antiretroviral therapy initiation in diverse multinational settings

Post Date: 
2014-07-15
Publication: 
The Journal of Infectious Diseases
Country: 
Brazil
Haiti
India
Malawi
Peru
South Africa
Thailand
United States
Zimbabwe
Background: Low 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) has been associated with increased HIV mortality, but prospective studies assessing treatment outcomes after combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) initiation in resource-limited settings are lacking. Methods: A case-cohort study (N = 411) was nested...

Diagnostic accuracy of a rapid urine lipoarabinomannan test for tuberculosis in HIV-infected adults

Post Date: 
2014-07-01
Publication: 
Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
Country: 
South Africa
Uganda
Objective : In settings of high HIV prevalence, tuberculosis control and patient management are hindered by lack of accurate, rapid tuberculosis diagnostic tests that can be performed at point-of-care. The Determine TB LAM Ag (TB LAM) test is a lateral flow immunochromatographic test for detection...

Blood stream infections

Post Date: 
2014-07-01
Publication: 
BioMed Research International
Blood stream infection (BSI) is one of the most devastating preventable complications in Critical Care Units. It has far-reaching consequences resulting in prolonged length of hospital-stay, high costs to the individual and exchequer, and, in many instances, loss of life. Although exact rates of...

Optimisation of the Medical Education Partnership Initiative to address African health-care challenges

Post Date: 
2014-06-25
Publication: 
The Lancet Global Health
Country: 
Uganda
The Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) is an innovative and potentially transformative 5-year programme, established by the US Government in 2010, to increase the number of doctors to meet crucial human resource needs in sub-Saharan Africa.1 MEPI allows African institutions that are...

Cost-effectiveness of rapid susceptibility testing against second line drugs for tuberculosis

Post Date: 
2014-06-15
Publication: 
International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
Background : Drug susceptibility testing (DST) against second-line tuberculosis drugs (SLDs) is essential for improving outcomes among multidrug-resistant (MDR-) and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) cases. Objective : To evaluate the potential cost-effectiveness of rapid DST for...

Challenges to disclosure of HIV status to perinatally infected children: a study of caregiver perspectives in Pune, India

Post Date: 
2014-06-15
Publication: 
Journal of Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Country: 
India
Effective guidelines around disclosure of HIV status are lacking and limited data from India reveal low rates of HIV disclosure to perinatally infected children. This study, conducted in Pune, India, attempts to understand the experiences of caregivers of perinatally infected children around the...

Comparative performance of urinary lipoarabinomannan assays and Xpert MTB/RIF in HIV-infected individuals

Post Date: 
2014-06-01
Publication: 
AIDS
Country: 
Uganda
Background : Xpert MTB/RIF ('Xpert') and urinary lipoarabinomannan (LAM) assays offer rapid tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis, but have suboptimal sensitivity when used individually in HIV-positive patients. The yield of these tests used in combination for the diagnosis of active TB among HIV-infected TB...

A consortium approach to competency-based undergraduate medical education in Uganda: process, opportunities and challenges

Post Date: 
2014-05-15
Publication: 
Education for Health
Country: 
Uganda
Background: Uganda, like the rest of Africa, is faced with serious health challenges including human immunodeficiency virus infection/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), other infectious diseases and increasing non-communicable diseases, yet it has a significant shortage of health...

Taking the long view on CREATE studies' finding

Post Date: 
2014-05-15
Publication: 
The Lancet Infectious Disease
Country: 
Brazil
South Africa
Zambia
In the past 10 years, the Consortium to Respond Effectively to the AIDS TB Epidemic (CREATE) has done three large trials exploring new strategies to control HIV-related tuberculosis. Recognising that the global strategy for tuberculosis control of a decade ago (mainly directly observed short-course...

Socioeconomic determinants of mortality in HIV: evidence from a clinical cohort in Uganda

Post Date: 
2014-05-15
Publication: 
Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
Country: 
Uganda
Objective: To delineate the association between baseline socioeconomic status (SES) indicators and mortality and lost to follow-up (LTFU) in a cohort of HIV-infected individuals enrolled in antiretroviral therapy (ART) in urban Uganda. Design: Retrospective cohort study nested in an antiretroviral...

Gender-related barriers and delays in accessing tuberculosis diagnostic and treatment services - Part 2: a systematic review of qualitative studies

Post Date: 
2014-05-11
Publication: 
Tuberculosis Research and Treatment
Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant global public health problem with known gender-related (male versus female) disparities. We reviewed the qualitative evidence (written/spoken narrative) for gender-related differences limiting TB service access from symptom onset to treatment...

Barriers and delays in tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment services: does gender matter

Post Date: 
2014-04-28
Publication: 
Tuberculosis Research and Treatment
Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global public health problem with known gender-related disparities. We reviewed the quantitative evidence for gender-related differences in accessing TB services from symptom onset to treatment initiation. Methods: Following a systematic review process, we:...

Change in Vitamin D levels occurs early after antiretroviral therapy initiation and depends on treatment regimen in resource-limited settings

Post Date: 
2014-04-21
Publication: 
PLOS One
Country: 
Brazil
Haiti
India
Malawi
Peru
South Africa
Thailand
United States
Zimbabwe
Background: Vitamin D has wide-ranging effects on the immune system, and studies suggest that low serum vitamin D levels are associated with worse clinical outcomes in HIV. Recent studies have identified an interaction between antiretrovirals used to treat HIV and reduced serum vitamin D levels,...

The evolving role of advocacy in tuberculosis

Post Date: 
2014-04-02
Publication: 
The Lancet Respiratory Medicine
Tuberculosis advocacy has changed the disease from a silent epidemic to one with many voices that seek increased political will and investment in research.1 Tuberculosis advocacy has gained strength as a mechanism to improve research, increase access to new methods to fight tuberculosis, and...

Pregnancy differentially impacts performance of latent tuberculosis diagnostics in a high-burden setting

Post Date: 
2014-03-21
Publication: 
PLOS One
Country: 
India
Background: Targeted screening for latent TB infection (LTBI) in vulnerable populations is a recommended TB control strategy. Pregnant women are at high risk for developing TB and likely to access healthcare, making pregnancy an important screening opportunity in developing countries. The...

Biomarkers for sepsis: a review with special attention to India

Post Date: 
2014-03-19
Publication: 
BioMed Research International
Country: 
India
Sepsis is a serious infection and still a common cause of morbidity and mortality in resource-limited settings such as India. Even when microbiologic diagnostics are available, bacteremia is only identified in a proportion of patients who present with sepsis and bloodstream infections. Biomarkers...

Pages