Humanitarian engineers need an inexpensive, fast, visually compelling way to assess bacterial water quality in remote locations. One way to do this is with 3M Petrifilm E. coli/Coliform (EC) Count Plates to detect E. coli in water samples. These require incubation at close to body temperature. To meet this need, we provide a free, open-source design of a battery-powered incubator capable of maintaining 35°C ± 1°C for up to 65 hours in ambient temperature of 25°C. Our incubator, called the Armadillo, can be replicated by an ordinarily skilled person in five hours for under USD $200.00 in materials cost. This paper summarises the reference documentation for construction, sample handling, inoculation, and incubation using Petrifilms and the Armadillo. Colony-forming unit (CFU) counts generated by the Armadillo are compared side-by-side with a laboratory-grade incubator. Incubation performance at ambient temperatures of 25°C and 4°C shows that a single battery charge reliably powers a full incubation period of 48 hours under normal ambient temperatures.

We investigated relationship between galectin-3 (Gal-3) levels and T lymphocytes apoptosis and the activation rates in breast cancer during chemotherapy. We used plasma samples from 112 women classified into two groups: 70 women with breast cancer (BC) and submitted to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (3 cycles) and 42 healthy women used as controls. In the group of BC, blood samples were taken before each cycle of chemotherapy and Gal-3 levels was evaluated by ELISA sandwich. Flow cytometry was used to study T cells apoptosis and activation. Before treatment, median value of Gal-3 was 6.31 ng/ml (range 1.07 -50.74) in BC and 0.84 ng/ml (range 0.00 -4.82) in HC. Gal-3 levels were highest in plasmas from BC (p < 0.001). During the same period, proportions of apoptotic T lymphocytes were highest in BC compared to HC (p < 0.05). Similar results were observed about T cells activation. According to clinical symptoms, we observed, in the group of patients with a low or null response to chemotherapy, a positive correlation between gal-3 levels and tumor size (rho = 0.48; p = 0.010). In addition, we found a dynamic relationship between gal-3 levels, tumor size and T lymphocytes apoptosis rates during treatment depending to the cure efficiency. We suggest gal-3 plasma concentrations could be used as predictive biomarker for chemotherapy efficiency in breast cancer patients.

Objectives: In Senegal, the dominant social norm upholds virginity before marriage and edifies abstinence for adolescents as a cardinal moral value. Currently, sex outside of marriage remains socially condemned. The onset of sex for adolescent girls born with HIV in Senegal brings up several challenges. In Dakar, initiatives, especially through digital applications, are being developed to support these young people. These programs are much rarer in rural settings. A study conducted in 2021 explored how adolescent girls born with HIV who live outside of Dakar experience sexuality, what socio-health constraints they face, and what support they receive from the healthcare system. Method: An anthropological study titled ‘Treatment Failure among Children and Adolescents Living with HIV in Senegal, Outside Dakar’ (ETEA-VIH, ANRS 12421) was conducted in 2021 in 14 regional hospitals and health centers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 87 HIV-positive children and adolescents, 95 parents/guardians, and 47 health care workers. Adolescent girls’ onset of sexuality was specifically analyzed for 40 adolescent girls age 12–19 years old. Results: Generally, parents feign oblivion about their children’s sexual lives. Mothers dread a pregnancy out of marriage because they are responsible for overseeing sex education and would be ‘blamed’ for the transgression. The occurrence of an unintended pregnancy can lead to exclusion from the family and a risk of transmitting HIV to the child due to the lack of medical and social support. HIV remains a stigmatizing disease that families keep secret. The risk of disclosure is a major concern. Despite sexual and reproductive health (SRH) programs, most healthcare workers are reluctant to discuss sexuality or to offer contraception to adolescent girls. Information spaces have been set up in some regional hospitals by associations trained in SRH. They are rarer in health centers. Accessibility to digital applications and discussion forums is limited due to the lack of smartphones and Internet access. Conclusion: In rural settings, HIV-positive adolescent girls are confronted with the silence that surrounds sexuality and HIV. An individualized approach and confidential access to contraception should be prioritized to support them with assistance from PLHIV associations.

Background and Objectives: Cervical cancer is a leading cause of cancer death in female populations. It is a virally induced carcinoma resulting from sexually transmitted high risk Human Papillomavirus infections (e.g. . Previous studies have shown associations between IL-17A levels in cancer micro-environments and metastasis of tumor cells. In Africa, chemotherapy (CT) is the standard first-line treatment for cervical cancer and the prognosis remains poor for metastatic and recurrent cases. The impact of CT as a treatment option is still unclear. We investigated the prognostic relevance of IL-17A profiles in Cervical cancer patients (CP) patients treated with cisplatin in combination with 5-fluouracil (5FU) for three cycles. Methods: The study included 57 CP and 59 women with no history of malignancy as healthy controls (HC). IL-17A plasma levels were evaluated by ELISA. For each CP, three blood samples were collected at three-week intervals before initiation of the chemotherapy protocol. Results: Before chemotherapy CP showed higher serum levels of IL-17A compared to HCs (p = 0.035). No relation was detected between age and IL-17A levels. We observed a significant increase in serum IL-17A during treatment of the CP group (p < 0.05). Depending on chemotherapy's efficacy, CP were divided into 1) non responders, 2) partial responders and 3) good responders. Non-responders patients showed significantly higher serum levels of IL-17A during the follow-up compared to partial and good responder groups both following the How to cite this paper: