Context Poor adherence to treatment remains a major obstacle to efficient tuberculosis (TB) control in developing countries. Innovative strategies to improve access and adherence to treatment are needed. Objectives To assess the effectiveness of a contextualized intervention strategy aimed at improving patients' adherence to treatment and to evaluate its impact on TB control in a resource-poor country in Africa with prevalent TB infection. Design, Setting, and Patients A cluster randomized controlled trial, conducted between June 2003 and January 2005, at 16 government district health centers in Senegal. Patients older than 15 years with newly diagnosed sputum smear-positive pulmonary TB were randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. Intervention The intervention strategy included reinforced counseling through improved communication between health personnel and patients, decentralization of treatment, choice of directly observed therapy (DOT) supporter by the patient, and reinforcement of supervision activities. In the control group, the usual TB control program procedures remained unchanged. Main Outcome Measure Proportion of patients successfully completing the 8-month course of treatment and the proportion of patients defaulting from treatment. Results A total of 1522 patients were recruited into the study. Treatment was successful for 682 (88%) of 778 patients recruited in the intervention group, and for 563 (76%) of 744 patients recruited in the control group (adjusted risk ratio [RR], 1.18; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03-1.34). The proportion of patients defaulting was reduced in the intervention group to 5.5% (n=43) compared with 16.8% (n=125) in the control group (adjusted RR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.21-0.89). Conclusion The intervention package based on improved patients counseling and communication, decentralization of treatment, patient choice of DOT supporter, and reinforcement of supervision activities led to improvement in patient outcomes compared with the usual TB control procedures. This approach may be generalized in the context of TB control programs in resource-poor countries.

In this routine diagnosis allergy work-up for CMA in toddlers, the best efficacy was seen for intestinal permeability compared to IgE, IgG, skin prick test and atopy patch test. Moreover, fecal EDN in a single spot sample displayed a similar performance.

Our study shows a relatively high prevalence of RHD. Reducing its prevalence should focus on the implementation of appropriate policies, targeting at-risk populations and focusing on raising awareness and early detection.

Heterozygous missense HTRA1 mutations have been associated with an autosomal dominant cerebral small vessel disease whereas the pathogenicity of heterozygous HTRA1 stop codon variants is unclear. We performed a targeted high throughput sequencing of all known cerebral small vessel disease genes, including HTRA1, in 3,853 unrelated consecutive CSVD patients referred for molecular diagnosis. The frequency of heterozygous HTRA1 mutations leading to a premature stop codon in this patient cohort was compared with their frequency in large control databases. An analysis of HTRA1 messenger RNA was performed in several stop codon carrier patients. Clinical and neuroimaging features were characterized in all probands. Twenty unrelated patients carrying a heterozygous HTRA1 variant leading to a premature stop codon were identified. A highly significant difference was observed when comparing our patient cohort with control databases (gnomAD v3.1.1 (p = 3.12 x 10−17, OR = 21.9), TOPMed freeze 5 (p = 7.6 x 10−18, OR = 27.1) and 1000 Genomes (p = 1.5 x 10−5). Messenger RNA analysis performed in eight patients showed a degradation of the mutated allele strongly suggesting a haploinsufficiency. Clinical and neuroimaging features are similar to those previously reported in heterozygous missense mutation carriers, except for penetrance, which seems lower. Altogether, our findings strongly suggest that heterozygous HTRA1 stop codons are pathogenic through a haploinsufficiency mechanism. Future work will help to estimate their penetrance, an important information for genetic counseling