BACKGROUND On the Zanzibar islands, United Republic of Tanzania, elimination of urogenital schistosomiasis is strived for in the coming years. This qualitative study aimed to better understand community knowledge, perceptions, and practices associated with schistosomiasis among school-aged children on Unguja and Pemba islands, in order to inform the development of behavior change interventions ...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Amplicor Chlamydia trachomatis Test (Roche Molecular Systems, Branchburg, NJ), a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based technique, as a screening test for the detection of female urogenital C. trachomatis infections, comparing it to an enzyme immunoassay method. METHODS Endocervical specimens for PCR and Chlamydiazyme (Abbott Laboratories...

To assess the clinical utility of replacing microbial culture for Neisseria gonorrhoeae with a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT), we compared N. gonorrhoeae culture with the cobas 4800 CT/NG test for 18,247 urogenital and 666 nongenital samples. For urogenital specimens, the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of the cobas N. gonorrhoeae PCR were 98.7%, 10...

Schistosomiasis is a chronic, parasitic disease caused by the blood flukes (trematode worms) of the genus Schistosoma. There are two major forms of schistosomiasis, intestinal and urogenital. The blood fluke Schistosoma haematobium causes urogenital schistosomiasis, with its highest prevalence in Africa and the Middle East. Given the emerging migrant populations in Australia, from the Africa an...

Coxsackie and adenovirus receptor (CAR) is not only a high-affinity receptor for adenovirus, but also a tumor inhibitor in both prostate and bladder cancer lines. Decreased CAR gene expression is often detected in cancer specimens; however, the mechanism(s) is still unknown. In this study, we cloned the entire CAR gene and characterized the core promoter sequence of the CAR gene. The CAR gene p...

PURPOSE To describe and classify 80 cases of urogenital tuberculosis in seven groups of similar clinical and radiological presentation. MATERIALS AND METHODS 80 patients (56 males, 70%; median age 34 years; age range 12 to 75) with urogenital tuberculosis were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were divided in seven groups: 1) Bilateral parenchymatous renal lesions; 2) No or minimal chang...

Forty percent of American women are obese and at risk for type II diabetes, impaired immune function, and altered microbiome diversity, thus impacting overall health. We investigated whether obesity induced by an excess calorie, high fat diet containing hydrogenated fats, fructose, and coconut oil (HFD) altered glucose homeostasis, peripheral immunity, and urogenital microbial dynamics. We hypo...