Knowledge and willingness of young adult to participate in early HIV vaccine trial in Nigeria

Nigeria has the second largest HIV epidemic (3.4 million) in the world with 3.2% of her young adults infected. Knowledge and willingness of young adults to participate in early HIV vaccine trial (EHVT) are essential for future interventions. This study aimed to investigate factors influencing willingness to participate (WTP) in EHVT. A cross-sectional study was employed to fetch data from 750 young adults (18-40years) recruited by systematic random sampling between June to December 2016. An informed consent questionnaire addressing socio-demographic factors, contraceptive practices, risky behaviours, knowledge and perception of EHVT study was completed by the participants. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 software and p ≤ 0.05 considered significant. Up to 240 (32.0%) of 750 expressed WTP in a vaccine study. There was a significant association between the WTP with; education levels (P=0.001), knowledge about HIV vaccine trial (HVT) studies (P=0.003); a positive insight toward the study (P=0.001); and age group 18-20years (P=0.001). Unwillingness to participate was associated with concerns about fear of reverting back, side effect, fear of spouse, use of parenteral route for its administration. Up to 684 (91.2%) of 750 knew contraceptive was for childbirth control, 241 (32.1%) has never used contraceptive while 172 (23%) used it during last coitus. Refusal to use contraceptive was associated with: religion, its side effect, not married, spouse un-approval, and ignorance. There was a significant association between the WTP with: education level, knowledge about HIV vaccine trial (HVT); a positive insight toward the study; and age group 14-20 years

The Use of Rap-Pcr in Studying Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Intracellular Gene During Macrophage Infection

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the second leading cause of death from infectious agent. This study sought to detect M. tuberculosis genes; which were specifically expressed; or upregulated during intracellular infection of J774 murine macrophages; as such genes may be potential targets for novel drug action. J774 murine macrophage cell line was infected with M. tuberculosis (H37Rv strain) at 10:1 multiplicity of infection (MOI). RNA was differentially extracted from M. tuberculosis infecting J774 macrophage cell line. The control in this case was RNA from extracellular broth grown bacteria. Approximately 50 ng of RNA from intracellular derived bacteria and extracellular derived bacteria (control) were subjected to random arbitrarily primed PCR (RAP-PCR) using 50 primer combinations. Eleven differential RAP-PCR products were observed. All RAP-PCR products were cloned into pCRr2.1 and sequenced in order to determine the identity of the products. Four of the eleven products were derived from macrophage genes and another 4 products were derived from the M. tuberculosis rRNA genes (three 23S and one 16S rRNA). The 3 remaining RAP-PCR products were found to be mycobacterial genes other than ribosomal genes. The three products were genes encoding enzyme involving in a shikimate pathway; a putative carboxyphosphonoenolpyruvate phosphonomutase and a serine protease with homology to HtrA. Of the 3 mycobacterial genes other than ribosomal genes detected; none were specifically expressed during intracellular infection but bacilli