Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0024530 (malaria)
 44,886 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

India has launched a liberalization of its economy with restructuring, privatization, and increased imports in order to achieve higher economic performance. This drive also affected the pharmaceutical industry and drug distribution, but in a negative manner. In the 1980s there were 9000 drug manufacturers that together produced up to 60,000 different preparations. In 1992, only 20,000 drugs were produced. The Voluntary Health Organization of India (VHAI) has fought for 10 years for a rational policy on medicines to halt the production of worthless or outright harmful products. For instance, anabolic steroids are sold as nutritional supplements to children, and the banned clioquinol is regularly used against diarrhea despite an international boycott. In recent years unscrupulous manufacturers have sold contaminated water as glucose for infusion bags and anti-D-immunoglobulin which was contaminated with HIV-infected blood. In northern India, a criminal organization bought up used cannulas from hospitals and repacked them for resale as new supplies. While a new medicine policy is formulated, there is a serious shortage of life-saving drugs such as insulin and rifampicin. In the last years, prices have exploded as some products have become six times more expensive. The whole national health system has undergone cost cuts to comply with an ultimatum from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; otherwise, sorely needed dollar loans would not be forthcoming. Funds for fighting tuberculosis and malaria have been trimmed, although AIDS and family planning budgets have been increased. One-fourth of the state health expenditures go to combat AIDS, since about 1 million people are infected with HIV. The pharmaceutical industry has also been embroiled in a patent protection wrangle with American drug exporters who claim that Retrovir or AZT (developed by Burroughs Wellcome) was pirated by the Cipla firm, whereas Cipla countered that it was ferreted out from scientific journals.
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PMID:[India: an expensive and dangerous drug]. 130 Jun 63

Antioxidant and/or free radical scavenger vitamins (A, E) as beta carotene are unequally distributed among intertropical peoples from Africa. In Ivory coast for example the values observed are clearly enhanced in the regions where Palm oil is usually eaten than in savanna regions. Primary liver cancer (PLC) is more frequently observed in savanna regions. Furthermore it has been recently suggested that retinoic acid which is derived from vitamin A and beta carotene could interact with the genes which are involved in the primary liver carcinogenesis. In PLC patients as in subjects suffering from sickle cell anaemia, malaria, kwashiorkor or marasmus, and AIDS, the plasma levels of vitamin A, Vitamin E and beta carotene are decreased. Though disturbances in the digestion of fats that may be observed in some pathologies (mainly in Kwashiorkor) affect the discussion of the results, haemolysis and/or acute phase reaction with increased respiratory burst are always observed. That explain, at least in part, the lowering of lipophilic-antioxidant-vitamin plasma levels. As a consequence crude palm oil addition or vitamin A and E therapy would enhance the natural defences against the deleterious effects of the oxidative stress induced by these affections. It is worth checking about.
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PMID:[Antioxidant and/or free radical scavenger vitamins in tropical medicine]. 130 94

Discovery of an enlarged spleen in a child requires steps to identify the etiology. One hundred and seventy-eight patients seen over a four-year period (1985-1988) at the Cocody Teaching Hospital were reviewed. The incidence of splenic enlargement among pediatric inpatients was 1.6%. Males (n = 106) were more often affected than females (n = 72). Slightly over half the children (54.49%) were 0 to 5 years of age. The main clinical presenting features were fever (90%), anemia (72%), a decline in general health (36.50%), enlargement of the liver (33.50%), jaundice (26.50%), and enlarged lymph nodes (7%). Type II of Hackett's classification accounted for most cases (61.80%), followed by Type III (14%). Main etiologies included malaria (53%), salmonella infections (15%), sickle cell anemia (14%), schistosomiasis (9%), AIDS (3%), and thalassemia (2%). Malignancies (leukemia, lymphoma) were relatively infrequent. More than one etiology was found in 13 cases. The distribution of etiologies by age group was determined and a strategy for investigating children with splenic enlargement in tropical countries was developed.
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PMID:[Etiology of splenomegaly in children in the tropics. 178 cases reviewed at the university hospital center of Abidjan-Cocody (Ivory Coast)]. 131 90

Much progress has been made towards reaching an understanding of immune responses at the molecular level. This has provided much needed information for identifying the antigens which will afford protection against diseases such as rabies, malaria, whooping cough, hepatitis and acquired immune deficiency syndrome, and for presenting them to the immune system.
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PMID:Vaccines. 136 61

WHO finds that the health services and the health systems in India have improved. For example, India has made considerable improvement in expansion of health services to rural areas (7-10% expansion) and to the poor. Further, allocation to the minimum needs program, according to the state sector plan, has risen from 42.6% to 50%. In addition, infant and maternal mortality rates have fallen. Improved immunization coverage, prenatal care services, diarrhea prevention, malaria control, and contraceptive use have all contributed to the reduction in infant and maternal deaths. Health and welfare programs have generally institutionalized the primary health care concept of community participation. Training for health workers, policymakers, and personnel from nongovernmental organizations has expanded. Nevertheless, life expectancy has essentially not changed. Besides, WHO notes that the disease patterns have not changed. Some regions of India have disease patterns of developed countries, however. India has the highest number of malaria cases in southeastern Asia (almost 71%) and the second highest number of women with anemia. The number of HIV-positive and AIDS cases is growing. More than 374 million people are at risk of lymphatic filariasis, and Japanese encephalitis has become entrenched in India. 5% of the population are positive for hepatitis viruses. 1% have iodine deficiency disorders.
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PMID:WHO commends India. 145 31

As part of a population-based malaria surveillance program in late 1990, surveillance agents took blood samples from 979 people who had had a fever within the last 2 weeks and from 4044 healthy people during regular house-to-house visits in rural northern Natal/KwaZulu, South Africa, to determine HIV seroprevalence and risk factors of HIV infection. 60 (1.2%) people were HIV-1 seropositive. No one had HIV-2 infection. Febrile people had a 30% higher sex-adjusted relative risk (RR) of HIV-1 infection than healthy individuals, but this increase was insignificant. Women were at greater risk of HIV-1 infection than men (1.6% vs. 0.4%; age-adjusted RR = 3.8). In fact, this risk still existed when the researchers controlled for fever (RR = 3.75) and migrancy (RR = 3.2). The fall in the RR for women from 3.8 to 3.2 when controlled for migrancy suggested an underrepresentation of migrant male workers in the study sample. 2.3% of the women in their childbearing years (15-44) were HIV-1 seropositive, indicating an increased likelihood of transmission of HIV-1 to newborns. The youngest person afflicted with HIV-1 was a 12-year-old female and the oldest was a 66-year-old woman. No 10-to-19-year-old males tested HIV-1 positive, while 1.7% of the 10-to-19-year-old females did, suggesting that the young females had sex with older men. This may have indicated teenage prostitution and sexual abuse. 2.9% of the people who changed their place of residence within the last year (migrancy) had HIV-1 infection. For women it was linked to a 2.4 times higher RR (age-adjusted) of HIV-1 infection. For men, the age-adjusted RR was even greater (7.3). Even though HIV-1 seroprevalence was about 45% greater in areas crossed by the main national road than it was in other areas (1.3% vs. 0.9%), the difference was not significant. Since migrants were a key source of HIV-1 infection, improvement in social conditions, allowing families to live together and to settle in their communities, may reduce HIV-1 transmission.
AIDS 1992 Dec
PMID:Seroprevalence of HIV infection in rural South Africa. 149 37

Finland has helped Namibia to pass through the transition period after independence in March 1990. For example, it helped develop a census to provide baseline health and demographic data so the government can proceed with planning its health policy. A goal is to switch from the curative health system it inherited to a primary health care system so as to achieve Health for All by the year 2000. Indeed the government assures free health services to all citizens. The Ministry of Health and Social Services has identified 4 strategies to achieve this goal: granting health promotion and prevention top priority; increase use of information, education, and communication; community participation; and intersectoral cooperation. Morbidity in Namibia is high, e.g., the tuberculosis, measles, and malaria rates are 295, 281, and 473/100,000 population, respectively; the growth of 33% of the children is stunted; and 6% suffer from severe malnutrition. Namibia is dependent upon food imports because parts of Namibia receive very little rain, resources are not equally distributed, landlords do not live near their land holdings, and poverty. The government plans to hold a conference on land to discuss land ownership. The government intends to improve women's status which in turn will improve their, their children's, and the population's health. The constitution guarantees women's rights. Various priority areas of the Ministry include immunization, maternal health (prenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal care), and family planning. Namibia has hosted workshops on these topics and has organized a national AIDS committee which has held 9 workshops on AIDS. The government recognizes that the health of the population depends on national economic development as well as the state of education, housing, agriculture, sanitation, and communication.
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PMID:Namibia's health policies and strategies. 161 22

Researchers analyzed data on 2627 Australian tourists returning from Kenya, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the Maldives (November 1988-March 1989 and October 1989-January 1990) to examine tourist behavior regarding prophylaxis measures. 94.1% sought health information. 1st time tourists were more likely to get this information than those who had already made at least 1 visit (98.1% vs. 92%; p.05). Many tourists relied on travel agencies (37.5%) and friends (20.2%) for this information. Experienced tourists were not as likely to depend on travel agencies and friends as were 1st time tourists (p.05), however. 92% of those who sought information took at least 1 precautionary measure. 96.3% of tourists to Kenya carried out a prophylactic measure compared with 79.6% of those to the Maldives (p.05). Tourists tended to obtain immunoglobulin prophylaxis against hepatitis A (75.1-84.8%), yet not obtain vaccinations for typhoid fever (55.7-68.1%), tetanus (43.3-56.7%), and polio (25.9-38.7%). They appeared to be aware of dietary risks (86.1%), but not about sexually transmitted disease risk such as AIDS (41.7%) or taking a medical travel kit (50.5%). After a mass media campaign, these figures increased to 93.1% (not significant), 64.7% (p.01), and 68.2% (p.05). The Maldives was free of malaria, but 31.9% still took malaria prophylaxis. Most travelers to Thailand (88.35) also took malaria prophylaxis, yet 81.8% of them went to malaria-free areas. Tourists to Kenya had better compliance than those to Sri Lanka (94.2% vs. 82.7%, p.05). Moreover only 74.7% of travelers to Kenya took mefloquine, the recommended choice for short-term travelers. Compliance was greater among those who took mefloquine than it was for those taking chloroquine (74.1% vs. 90.3%, p .01). The most important finding was the considerable misinformation about and noncompliance with malaria prophylaxis. For example, the more complex the intake instructions the more likely noncompliance occurs.
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PMID:Compliance of Austrian tourists with prophylactic measures. 164 43

Eighteen tissue samples from lymphoproliferative lesions and lymphomas in immunodeficiency states were investigated for their content of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genome by dot blotting and for the distribution of EBV in tissue sections by in situ hybridization. Fourteen lymphomas from AIDS patients and four children with disorders of the immune system were available. For control reasons, six cases of infectious mononucleosis (IM) and eight Burkitt's lymphomas (BL) from malaria-free regions of Africa were included in the study. Two different patterns of EBV distribution are described: 1) heterogeneous scattered EBV-positive cells, as originally seen in IM and therefore called the IM-type pattern, 2) and a BL-type pattern seen in endemic Burkitt's lymphoma with homogeneous EBV-positive cells all over the tumor. In lymphomas in patients with inborn immunodeficiencies, an IM-type pattern was found. In lymphomas from AIDS patients, the two different patterns were found. There were lymphomas with the IM-type pattern as well as some with the BL-type pattern. In some AIDS-associated lymphomas, both patterns occurred in one tumor. The findings suggest that it is not the disease process that is the distinguishing feature between the two patterns of EBV infection but rather the patient's underlying disease and the extent of this disease.
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PMID:Different Epstein-Barr virus expression in lymphomas from immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients. 169 92

Both helper and cytotoxic T lymphocytes generally recognize protein antigens not in their intact form, as antibodies do, but on the surface of another cell, after "processing" by that cell to unfold or cleave the protein into fragments and after association of the processed antigen with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules on that cell. This complex process leads to immunodominance of certain segments from the protein, which depends not only on structural features intrinsic to the antigenic segment itself, but also on antigen processing and on the structure of the MHC molecules of the responding individual. We have explored all three of these factors, including the enzymes involved in processing, the way peptides bind to MHC molecules, and structural features such as helical amphipathicity that seem to favour T cell recognition. We have used this information to locate and characterize antigenic sites of proteins of interest for vaccine development, including proteins from the malaria parasite and the AIDS virus, HIV. For HIV, we have identified both helper and cytotoxic T cell sites, coupled a helper site to a B cell site to produce a synthetic immunogen that elicits neutralizing antibodies, and studied the effect of viral sequence variation on cytotoxic T cell recognition and binding of the immunodominant peptide to MHC molecules. This information suggests strategies for the rational design of synthetic or recombinant vaccines.
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PMID:Mechanisms of T cell recognition with application to vaccine design. 170 2


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