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Article
Open AccessEvaluating the impact of point-of-care HIV viral load assessment on linkage to care in Baltimore, MD: a randomized controlled trial
Integration of a sensitive point-of-care (POC) HIV viral load (VL) test into screening algorithms may help detect acute HIV infection earlier, identify people with HIV (PWH) who are not virally suppressed, and...
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Article
Open AccessAetiology of hospitalized fever and risk of death at Arua and Mubende tertiary care hospitals in Uganda from August 2019 to August 2020
Epidemiology of febrile illness in Uganda is shifting due to increased HIV treatment access, emerging viruses, and increased surveillance. We investigated the aetiology and outcomes of acute febrile illness in...
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Article
Open AccessEvaluation of a competency based medical curriculum in a Sub-Saharan African medical school
Medical schools in Sub-Saharan Africa have adopted competency based medical education (CBME) to improve the quality of graduates trained. In 2015, Makerere University College of Health Sciences (MaKCHS) implem...
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Article
Open AccessPatient and health system level barriers to and facilitators for tuberculosis treatment initiation in Uganda: a qualitative study
The WHO END TB strategy targets to place at least 90% of all patients diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB) on appropriate treatment. In Uganda, approximately 20% of patients diagnosed with TB are not initiated on...
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Article
Open AccessMitigation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission at a large public university
In Fall 2020, universities saw extensive transmission of SARS-CoV-2 among their populations, threatening health of the university and surrounding communities, and viability of in-person instruction. Here we re...
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Article
Open AccessHigh burden of untreated syphilis, drug resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and other sexually transmitted infections in men with urethral discharge syndrome in Kampala, Uganda
Prompt diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are essential to combat the STI epidemic in resource-limited settings. We characterized the burden of 5 curable STIs chlamydia, gonorrhe...
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Article
Daily longitudinal sampling of SARS-CoV-2 infection reveals substantial heterogeneity in infectiousness
The dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 replication and shedding in humans remain poorly understood. We captured the dynamics of infectious virus and viral RNA shedding during acute infection through daily longitudinal sam...
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Article
Open AccessImproving the specificity of nucleic acid detection with endonuclease-actuated degradation
Nucleic acid detection is essential for numerous biomedical applications, but often requires complex protocols and/or suffers false-positive readouts. Here, we describe SENTINEL, an approach that combines isot...
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Article
Open AccessBaseline Xpert MTB/RIF ct values predict sputum conversion during the intensive phase of anti-TB treatment in HIV infected patients in Kampala, Uganda: a retrospective study
In resource-limited settings, sputum smear conversion is used to document treatment response. Many People living with HIV (PLHIV) are smear-negative at baseline. The Xpert MTB/RIF test can indirectly measure b...
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Article
Open AccessChest X-ray interpretation does not complement Xpert MTB/RIF in diagnosis of smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis among TB-HIV co-infected adults in a resource-limited setting
Chest X-ray (CXR) interpretation remains a central component of the current World Health Organization recommendations as an adjuvant test in diagnosis of smear-negative tuberculosis (TB). With its low specific...
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Article
Open AccessPatient and health system factors associated with pretreatment loss to follow up among patients diagnosed with tuberculosis using Xpert® MTB/RIF testing in Uganda
In 2018, Uganda started only 65% of persons with incident tuberculosis on treatment. Pretreatment loss to follow up is an important contributor to suboptimal treatment coverage. We aimed to describe the patien...
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Article
Open AccessFunctional adrenal insufficiency among tuberculosis-human immunodeficiency virus co-infected patients: a cross-sectional study in Uganda
Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of adrenal insufficiency in resource-limited settings. The adrenal gland is the most commonly affected endocrine organ in TB infection. We assessed factors associated wit...
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Article
Open AccessResearch Capacity Strengthening in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recognizing the Importance of Local Partnerships in Designing and Disseminating HIV Implementation Science to Reach the 90–90–90 Goals
Capacity building in implementation science is integral to PEPFAR’s mission and to meeting the 90–90–90 goals. The USAID funded Project SOAR sponsored a 4 day workshop for investigators and governmental and no...
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Article
Open AccessAuthor Correction: The wide utility of rabbits as models of human diseases
This article was originally published under a CC BY-NC-SA License, but has now been made available under a CC BY 4.0 License.
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Article
Open AccessPerspectives on male partner notification and treatment for syphilis among antenatal women and their partners in Kampala and Wakiso districts, Uganda
Syphilis screening can be successfully integrated into antenatal clinics, and potentially avert significant morbidity and mortality to unborn infants. A minority of male partners report for testing and treatme...
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Article
Open Access“Tuberculosis in advanced HIV infection is associated with increased expression of IFNγ and its downstream targets”
Tuberculosis (TB) is the major cause of death in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-infected individuals. However, diagnosis of TB in HIV remains challenging particularly when HIV infection is advanced. Severa...
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Article
Open AccessThe wide utility of rabbits as models of human diseases
Studies using the European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus contributed to elucidating numerous fundamental aspects of antibody structure and diversification mechanisms and continue to be valuable for the development...
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Article
Open AccessPerformance of loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in a high prevalence TB/HIV rural setting in Uganda
Smear microscopy lacks sensitivity especially in HIV co-infection, resulting in undiagnosed tuberculosis (TB) and high mortality. The loop-mediated isothermal amplification (TB-LAMP) assay can be staged with m...
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Article
Open AccessTreatment decisions and mortality in HIV-positive presumptive smear-negative TB in the Xpert® MTB/RIF era: a cohort study
The Xpert® MTB/RIF (XP) has a higher sensitivity than sputum smear microscopy (70% versus 35%) for TB diagnosis and has been endorsed by the WHO for TB high burden countries to increase case finding among HIV ...
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Article
Open AccessNeurocognitive function in HIV-infected persons with asymptomatic cryptococcal antigenemia: a comparison of three prospective cohorts
HIV-infected persons with detectable cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) in blood have increased morbidity and mortality compared with HIV-infected persons who are CrAg-negative. This study examined neurocognitive fun...
