Thomas N Williams

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..abstract:..

..Distance to health facilities is a known determinant of health care utilization and may drive inequalities in health outcomes; we aimed to investigate its effects on childhood mortality...

..This retrospective case/control study seeks to ascertain the proportion of severe anaemia cases precipitated by B19 among young children admitted to a Kenyan district hospital...

..The causes of death are poorly documented, but bacterial sepsis is probably important. We examined the risk of invasive bacterial diseases in children with sickle-cell anaemia...

..In the absence of definitive studies investigating the contribution of malaria to morbidity and mortality in African children with SCD, policy makers will continue to lack the evidence on which to base appropriate management guidelines...

..The stage is set for a giant leap forward in the coming years...

..Negative epistasis could explain the failure of alpha(+)-thalassemia to reach fixation in any population in sub-Saharan Africa...

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..The Hp2 allele is thought to have spread under strong selection pressure, but it is unclear whether this is due to protection from malaria or other diseases...

..This heterogeneity reduces the efficacy of control strategies, but also implies that focusing control strategies on "hotspots" of transmission could be highly effective...

..The interleukin-2-mediated immune response is critical for host defense against infectious pathogens. Cytokine-inducible SRC homology 2 (SH2) domain protein (CISH), a suppressor of cytokine signaling, controls interleukin-2 signaling...

..Meanwhile, our study confirms the importance of providing all children living with SCA in malaria-endemic areas with effective prophylaxis...

..Nevertheless, few data are available that support this practice...

..Subjective and objective fevers are both used to define the endpoint, but have not been carefully compared, and the relative incidence of clinical malaria by active and passive case detection is unknown...

..Nevertheless, >50 years after this hypothesis was first proposed, the epidemiological description of the relationships between HbAS, malaria, and other common causes of child mortality remains incomplete...

..The precise target for these antibodies is unknown. The best characterized and most likely target is the erythrocyte surface-expressed variant protein family Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1)...

..Consequently, we performed a case-control study of fatal invasive bacterial disease in Kenyan children using a genome-wide screen with microsatellite markers...

..We conclude that the HP2-2 polymorphism and deletions in alpha-globin gene are not risk factors for acute seizures in children. Future studies should examine other susceptibility genes...

..Therefore, more-detailed mapping of variants across TNF/LTA genes and their flanking regions in the Gambian and allied populations may need to be undertaken to find any causal polymorphisms...

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..Few studies have reported outcome and haematological recovery of children with severe malaria where transfusion practice complies with WHO recommendations...

..Longitudinal surveillance of disease-causing strains is a prerequisite to intervention...

..To explore the relationship between homestead distance to hospital and access to care and to estimate the sensitivity of hospital-based surveillance in Kilifi district, Kenya...

..Our study supports the conclusion that both heterozygotes and homozygotes enjoy a selective advantage against death from Plasmodium falciparum malaria...

..The prevalence of malaria was lower than expected given the prevalence in the local community. This study provides valuable data regarding the clinical characteristics of children living with SCD in a rural setting in East Africa...

..88 (0.81-0.96), P = 0.005 and OR = 1.12 (1.03-1.20), P = 0.005]. The evidence presented here indicates that the influence of G-alpha-s on erythrocyte invasion efficacy may, indeed, alter individual susceptibility to disease...

..The challenge for the future must be to translate such advances into fresh approaches to the prevention and treatment of malaria...

..The possible role of genetic variation in the atypical NF-?B inhibitor I?B-R, encoded by NFKBIL2, in susceptibility to invasive pneumococcal disease has not, to our knowledge, previously been reported upon...

..vivax malaria parasite...

..However, it is unclear whether their cooccurrence with falciparum parasitization and severe disease happens by chance or by association among children in areas where malaria is endemic...

..We propose that ICAM-1(Kilifi) may be associated with reduced rates of tissue damage and of death due to sepsis...

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..63 g/dl) than in HbAS children (0.25 g/dl). HbAS also ameliorated both the reduced mean cell volume and mean cell haemoglobin normally associated with the -alpha/-alpha genotype. Potential mechanisms and implications are discussed...

..The identification of a parasite homologue of MIF raised the question of whether it affects monocyte function in a manner similar to its human counterpart...

..Our results show that increased binding to CD36 is associated with uncomplicated malaria while ICAM-1 adhesion is raised in parasites from cerebral malaria cases...

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..The challenge for the future must be to convert these advances into fresh approaches to the prevention and treatment of malaria...

..The relation between malnutrition and malaria is controversial. On the one hand, malaria may cause malnutrition, whereas on the other hand, malnutrition itself may modulate susceptibility to the disease...

..6 x 10(-8)). We found that the Mal S180L variant attenuated TLR2 signal transduction...

..More recently, the underlying mechanisms of protection have been examined. This short review summarizes these studies and where possible shows how the putative mechanisms of protection may be linked to redox processes...

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..We then review some recent literature regarding the pathological processes involved in the aetiology of severe malaria that may lead to improvements in the management of children with severe disease...

..The study objective was to accurately define the incidence and severity of group A rotavirus disease in a resource-poor setting necessary to make informed decisions on the need for vaccine prevention...

..We find geographical support for the malaria hypothesis globally; the relationship is relatively strong in Africa but cannot be resolved in the Americas or in Asia...

..The use of cryopreserved mature trophozoites could help to circumvent the problems associated with recovery of cryopreserved ring trophozoites...