Implementation of a mass measles campaign in central Afghanistan, December 2001 to May 2002.

In Afghanistan health services have been disrupted by 23 years of conflict and 1 of 4 children die before age 5 years. Measles accounts for an estimated 35,000 deaths annually. Surveillance data show a high proportion of measles cases (38%) among those >/=5 years old. In areas with complex emergencies, measles vaccination is recommended for those aged 6 months to 12-15 years. From December 2001 to May 2002, Afghan authorities and national and international organizations targeted 1,748,829 children aged 6 months to 12 years in five provinces in central Afghanistan for measles vaccinations. Two provinces reported coverage of >90% and two >80%. Coverage in Kabul city was 62%. A subsequent cluster survey in the city found 91% coverage (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.85-0.91) among children 6-59 months and 88% (95% CI, 0.87-0.95) among those 5-12 years old. Thus, this campaign achieved acceptable coverage despite considerable obstacles.

Differential expression of interleukin-15, a pro-inflammatory cytokine and T-cell growth factor, and its receptor in human prostate.

BACKGROUND: Pro-inflammatory interleukin (IL)-15 plays a major role in host defense and chronic inflammation by stimulating T-lymphocyte recruitment and growth. Expression of IL-15 and IL-15 receptor (IL-15R) in human prostate was examined. METHODS: Normal and benign hyperplastic (BPH) prostate specimens (n = 23) were analyzed for IL-15 and IL-15Ralpha-chain expression by immunohistochemistry and Real-Time-PCR/RT-PCR. Regulation of prostatic stromal cell (PSC) IL-15 mRNA and effect of IL-15 on prostatic cell growth were analysed in vitro. RESULTS: In normal prostate, anti-IL-15 and anti-IL-15Ralpha-chain reactivity were restricted to smooth muscle and stromal cells. However, in BPH, in addition epithelial cells frequently exhibited discrete anti-IL-15R and often intense, membranous anti-IL-15 reactivity. IL-15/IL-15R mRNA were detected in all prostatic cells types. In BPH tissues, IL-15 mRNA content was variable (15-fold). IL-15 mRNA synthesis of PSC was significantly up-regulated by IFN-gamma. Furthermore IL-15 strongly stimulated the growth of BPH-T-lymphocytes and weakly that of carcinoma cell lines, but not of stromal cells. CONCLUSIONS: Overexpression of IL-15 and IL-15Ralpha-chain in BPH and massive proliferation of BPH-T-lymphocytes induced by IL-15 suggest a role for IL-15 in prostatic inflammation. Since IFN-gamma, a T-lymphocyte product, stimulates prostatic IL-15 production; chronic inflammation might be triggered by this paracrine loop.

Object-recognition and spatial learning and memory in rats prenatally exposed to ethanol.

Prenatal ethanol exposure can produce cognitive and behavioral impairments. In the present study, rats from prenatal ethanol (E), pair-fed (PF), and ad libitum-fed control (C) treatment conditions were tested on the object-recognition delayed-nonmatching-to-sample (DNMS) task with nonrecurring items and on the spatial-navigation Morris water maze task. In Experiment 1, there were no significant differences among groups in object-recognition learning and memory, distractibility, or response perseveration on the DNMS task. In Experiment 2, the same rats were tested in the water maze; E rats took significantly longer to learn the task than did the PF or C rats. These data suggest that the mechanisms underlying spatial cognitive abilities are more vulnerable to the teratogenic effects of prenatal ethanol exposure than those underlying object-recognition abilities.