Vertical transmission

Dengue is a significant disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes in the tropics and subtropics worldwide. The disease is caused by four virus (DENV) serotypes and is transmitted to humans by female Aedes aegypti mosquito bites infected with the virus and vertically to their progeny. Current strategies to control dengue transmission focus on the vector. In this study, we describe an indirect Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), using a monoclonal antibody against the non-structural dengue virus protein 1 (NS1), to detect DENV2 in Ae...

INTRODUCTION: Nigeria offers universal hepatitis B birth-dose vaccine (HepB-BD) for the prevention and control of hepatitis B (HepB). While prior studies suggest low coverage of HepB-BD in Nigeria, there is a paucity of evidence on the association between the uptake of HepB-BD and maternal HepB status. This study aimed to determine HepB-BD coverage and the associated factors among infants of HepB-positive and -negative women in Nigeria. METHODS: the study was a secondary analysis of data from the Healthy Beginning Initiative program conducted between June 2016 and October 2018 in Benue State, Nigeria...

Ammonia-oxidising archaea and nitrite-oxidising bacteria are common members of marine sponge microbiomes. They derive energy for carbon fixation and growth from nitrification - the aerobic oxidation of ammonia to nitrite and further to nitrate - and are proposed to play essential roles in the carbon and nitrogen cycling of sponge holobionts. In this study, we characterise two novel nitrifying symbiont lineages, Candidatus Nitrosokoinonia and Candidatus Nitrosymbion in the marine sponge Coscinoderma matthewsi using a combination of molecular tools, in situ visualisation, and physiological rate measurements...

Advanced light sources in the blue-green band are crucial for underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) systems. Vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs) can produce high output power and good beam quality, making them suitable for UWOC. This paper presents a 108 m distance UWOC based on a 100 mW 490 nm blue VECSEL and an acousto-optic modulator (AOM). The high-quality beam, which is near diffraction-limited, undergoes relatively small optical attenuation when using a conventional avalanche photodiode (APD) as the detector and employing 64-pulse position modulation (PPM)...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections affect approximately 296 million people around the world, and the prevalence of any past or present HBV infection during the years 2015-2018 was as high as 4.3%. Acute HBV infection often presents with nonspecific symptoms and is usually self-limited, but 5% of patients can have persistent infections leading to chronic HBV infection and the risk of turning into chronic HBV infection is significantly higher in babies with vertical transmission (95%). Patients with chronic HBV infection are usually asymptomatic, but 15 to 40% of chronic HBV carriers develop cirrhosis and/or hepatocellular carcinoma...

Children with perinatally acquired human immunodeficiency virus (PHIV) are growing into adulthood with HIV and treatment-associated comorbidities, such as dyslipidemia and insulin resistance. HIV is identified as independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The hypothesis behind increased CVD risk associated with HIV includes vascular inflammation, dyslipidemia and combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) metabolomic toxicity. To investigate differences in lipid profiles and pathophysiological mechanisms of CVD risk in adolescents with PHIV, we compared the plasma lipidome of PHIV adolescents and HIV-negative controls...

The NASICON-structured Na3 MnZr(PO4 )3 compound is a promising high-voltage cathode material for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). In this study, an easy and scalable electrospinning approach was used to synthesize self-standing cathodes based on Na3 MnZr(PO4 )3 loaded into carbon nanofibers (CNFs). Different strategies were applied to load the active material. All the employed characterization techniques (X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and Raman spectroscopy) confirmed the successful loading...

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), often referred to as kala-azar, is quite rare in developed countries during pregnancy. Only few studies have evaluated its impact on perinatal outcome. It is caused primarily by Leishmania donovani or Leishmania infantum and presents with a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations from cutaneous ulcers to multisystem disease. Differential diagnosis is challenging as symptoms and signs are insidious, mimicking other diseases. Misdiagnosis can result in severe adverse perinatal outcomes, even maternal/neonatal death...

This article summarizes the updated guidelines on breastfeeding with HIV with an emphasis on using relational decision-making and intellectual humility to support the conversation around infant feeding choices. The complex cultural experiences and historical disparities that influence these decisions are highlighted, along with an overview of the recent changes to recommendations for breastfeeding in people with HIV. The article describes individualized clinical scenarios that consider infant feeding decisions, outlines communication and support strategies for health care providers, and proposes a relational decision-making model to guide discussions on infant feeding options...

(1) Background: The evidence base for the management of spontaneous viral controllers in pregnancy is lacking. We describe the management outcomes of pregnancies in a series of UK women with spontaneous HIV viral control (<100 copies/mL 2 occasions before or after pregnancy off ART). (2) Methods: A multi-centre, retrospective case series (1999-2021) comparing pre- and post-2012 when guidelines departed from zidovudine-monotherapy (ZDVm) as a first-line option. Demographic, virologic, obstetric and neonatal information were anonymised, collated and analysed in SPSS...

The fall armyworm (FAW) Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) has now become an invasive pest of global concern. The pest was first detected in Central and Western Africa in early 2016. Sustainable management options explored by stakeholders during early FAW invasion in Africa included the use of biopesticides and biological control. The current study aimed to compare the susceptibility of FAW larvae to SfMNPV with the assumption that the virus isolated from FAW populations in Africa has higher virulence compared with an isolate from Argentina (SfMNPV-ARG)...

Escherichia coli carrying IncK- bla CMY-2 plasmids mediating resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporins (ESC) has been frequently described in food-producing animals and in humans. This study aimed to characterize IncK- bla CMY-2 -positive ESC-resistant E. coli isolates from poultry production systems in Denmark, Finland, and Germany, as well as from Danish human blood infections, and further compare their plasmids. Whole-genome sequencing (Illumina) of all isolates ( n = 46) confirmed the presence of the bla CMY-2 gene...

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections worldwide. It is caused by the HPV, a DNA virus that infects epithelial cells in various mucous membranes and skin surfaces. HPV can be categorised into high-risk and low-risk types based on their association with the development of certain cancers. High-risk HPV types, such as HPV-16 and HPV-18, are known to be oncogenic and are strongly associated with the development of cervical, anal, vaginal, vulvar, penile, and oropharyngeal cancers...

High incidences of congenital syphilis have been reported in areas along the Pacific coast of Colombia. In this retrospective study, conducted during 2018-2022 at a public hospital in Buenaventura, Colombia, we analyzed data from 3,378 pregnant women. The opportunity to prevent congenital syphilis was missed in 53.1% of mothers because of the lack of syphilis screening. Characteristics of higher maternal social vulnerability and late access to prenatal care decreased the probability of having >1 syphilis screening test, thereby increasing the probability of having newborns with congenital syphilis...

PURPOSE: The aim of this work is to conduct a literature review to highlight all the parameters involved in sub-prosthetic radicular fractures of teeth supported by metallic dental core. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The following research was performed among published studies over the last 10 years in two PubMed/Medline and Scopus and supplemented by manual searching within the bibliographies. The search was restricted to publications in English and French. RESULTS: Out of the 1464 articles initially identified, 18 studies met our inclusion criteria and were subsequently included in the literature review...

BACKGROUND: Despite policy initiatives and strategic measures highly focused on preventing mother-to-child transmission through the implementation of the Option B+ program, adherence to the treatment is still challenging. The level of adherence and determinants of Option B+ program utilization reported by different studies were highly inconsistent in Ethiopia. Hence, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence of adherence to the Option B+ program and its predictors among HIV-positive women in Ethiopia...

Women's ability to control their fertility and have the number of children they want when they want them is an internationally recognized human right. This right has been the driving force behind family planning programs in low- and middle-income countries for more than five decades. The HIV epidemic added greater urgency to those efforts once the risk of vertical transmission of the virus from mothers to their infants was recognized. In 2013, we published a systematic review of the evidence of effectiveness of family planning counseling for women living with HIV, emphasizing HIV related behaviors...

INTRODUCTION: Hepatitis B infection (HBV) is prevalent in China. Due to language barriers and cultural differences, it is not always straightforward to evaluate disease knowledge in liver clinics. We aimed to assess the awareness on HBV and its mechanisms of transmission in HBV-infected Chinese patients and their household contacts. METHODS: HBV-infected Chinese patients and their contacts were interviewed by a native Chinese nurse regarding their knowledge on HBV transmission mechanisms, use of preventive measures and vaccination status...

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to analyze the factors that influence the positivity of treponemal and non-treponemal tests in cases of congenital syphilis. METHODS: This cross-sectional and correlational study was carried out from the analysis of the database of Disease and Notification Information System (SINAN, in Portuguese) using the data obtained through the Epidemiological Surveillance Group 29, with 639 notifications of congenital syphilis between 2007 and 2018...

The Melipona gut microbes differ from other social bees, with the absence of crucial corbiculate core gut symbionts and the high occurrence of environmental strains. We studied the microbial diversity and composition of three Melipona species and their honey to understand which strains are obtained by horizontal transmission (HT) from the pollination environment; or represent symbionts co-evolved with Melipona by HT from the hive/food stores or vertical transmission (VT) via social interactions. Bees harbored higher microbial alpha diversity and a different and more species-specific bacterial composition than honey...