TB preventive therapy preferences among children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND: TB preventive therapy (TPT) is critical for ending TB, yet implementation remains poor. With new global guidelines expanding TPT eligibility and regimens, we aimed to understand TPT preferences among children, adolescents and caregivers.METHODS: We undertook a discrete choice experiment among 131 children, 170 adolescents and 173 caregivers, and conducted 17 in-depth interviews in 25 clinics in Cape Town, South Africa. The design included attributes for location, waiting time, treatment duration, dosing frequency, formulation/size, side effects, packaging and taste. Mixed-effects logistic regression models were used for analysis.RESULTS: Among children and caregivers, the number and size of pills, taste and side effects were important drivers of preferences. Among adolescents and caregivers, clinic waiting times and side effects were significant drivers of preferences. Adolescents expressed concerns about being stigmatised, and preferred services from local clinics to services delivered in the community. Dosing frequency and treatment duration were only significant drivers of choice among adolescents, and only if linked to fewer clinic visits.CONCLUSIONS: Introducing shorter TPT regimens in isolation without consideration of preferences and health services may not have the desired effect on uptake and completion. Developing TPT delivery models and formulations that align with preferences must be prioritised.

Interactions between whey proteins and salivary proteins as related to astringency of whey protein beverages at low pH.

Whey protein beverages have been shown to be astringent at low pH. In the present study, the interactions between model whey proteins (ß-lactoglobulin and lactoferrin) and human saliva in the pH range from 7 to 2 were investigated using particle size, turbidity, and ζ-potential measurements and sodium dodecyl sulfate-PAGE. The correlation between the sensory results of astringency and the physicochemical data was discussed. Strong interactions between ß-lactoglobulin and salivary proteins led to an increase in the particle size and turbidity of mixtures of both unheated and heated ß-lactoglobulin and human saliva at pH ∼3.4. However, the large particle size and high turbidity that occurred at pH 2.0 were the result of aggregation of human salivary proteins. The intense astringency in whey protein beverages may result from these increases in particle size and turbidity at these pH values and from the aggregation and precipitation of human salivary proteins alone at pH <3.0. The involvement of salivary proteins in the interaction is a key factor in the perception of astringency in whey protein beverages. At any pH, the increases in particle size and turbidity were much smaller in mixtures of lactoferrin and saliva, which suggests that aggregation and precipitation may not be the only mechanism linked to the perception of astringency in whey protein.

Bacillus thermoamylovorans sp. nov., a moderately thermophilic and amylolytic bacterium.

A moderately thermophilic, facultatively anaerobic, amylolytic bacterium was isolated from palm wine, a tropical alcoholic beverage that was sampled in Senegal. The cells were gram positive, catalase positive, non-spore forming, rod shaped, and slightly motile with peritrichous flagella. The strain which we examined did not possess cytochrome and produced L-(+)-lactate, acetate, ethanol, and formate but not hydrogen during carbohydrate fermentation. Growth occurred at pH values ranging from 5.4 to 8.5, and optimum growth occurred at around pH 7.0. The optimum temperature for growth was around 50 degrees C, and the upper temperature limit for growth was 58 degrees C. The guanine-plus-cytosine content of the DNA was 38.8 +/- 0.2 mol%. A sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene revealed that the new organism is closely related phylogenetically to members of genus Bacillus. Despite the lack of spores, we propose that on the basis of phylogenetic characteristics, the new isolate should be classified as a new Bacillus species, Bacillus thermoamylovorans. The type strain is strain DKP (= Collection of Institut Pasteur CNCM I-1378).

[Psychic guidance and sexual rehabilitation of patients with genital malignoma]. / Psychische Führung und sexuelle Rehabilitation bei Genitalmalignomen.

Reported are results obtained from systematic interviews with 250 tumour after-care patients at the Gynaecological Hospital of Jena University. Information was gathered on psychic and sexual problems, and conclusions were drawn for medical practice, with particular reference being made to enlightenment on the disease and to sexual rehabilitation. It is the established intention of all people involved in treatment and after-care to counteract by active therapy-accompanying spiritual influence psychic disbehaviour caused by the disease. Efforts to build up optimistic attitudes are intended to produce favourable effects upon all phases of the disease.