Publications

INTRODUCTION: While recruitment rates in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) trials are continuously decreasing, the underlying reasons are likely multifactorial but remain poorly defined. Screen failure (SF) proportions and causes have not been extensively explored in IBD. AIM: We assessed SF proportions and underlying SF reasons in IBD phase 2 and 3 clinical trials. METHODS: We analyzed SF-related data from 17 randomized controlled phase 2 or 3 ...

BACKGROUND: Identifying patients at risk of nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) is challenging. Delays in NTM-PD identification and management are associated with declining lung function and increased morbidity and mortality. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: European NTM-PD experts (n=12) participated in a three-round modified Delphi process to score symptoms and comorbidities potentially associated with NTM-PD as reasons to test ...

INTRODUCTION: Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are increasingly isolated in individuals with presumed/confirmed pulmonary TB. We aimed to estimate the prevalence and species distribution of NTM among presumed/confirmed drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) individuals and determine NTM isolation predictors. METHODS: Sputum samples collected for DR-TB diagnosis and follow-up from 2012 to 2021 in Ghana were retrospectively analysed. Samples were subjected ...

De introductie van antibiotica in 1947 transformeerde de behandeling van tuberculose en bracht bovendien een gestage leegloop van sanatoria met zich mee. Vrouwelijke patiënten kregen op dat moment de kans om een opleiding tot verpleegkundige te volgen binnen het sanatorium. Op deze manier werden ze een spilfiguur in de maandenlange sanatoriumbehandeling voorbij de verschillende genderspecifieke waarden die ze toegekend kregen. Zo zagen ze toe op ...

Contact investigation is an evidence-based intervention of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) to protect public health by interrupting the chain of transmission. In pursuit of contact investigation, patients' MDR-TB status has to be disclosed to third parties (to the minimum necessary) for tracing the contacts. Nevertheless, disclosure to third parties often unintentionally leads the MDR-TB patients suffered from social discrimination and ...

Dilution is a standard fluid operation widely employed in the sample preparation process of many bio(chemical) assays. It serves multiple essential functions such as sample mixing with certain reagents at specific dilution ratios, reducing sample matrix effects, bringing target analytes within the linear assay detection range, among many others. Traditionally, sample processing is performed in laboratory settings through manual or automated ...

INTRODUCTION: Suprasellar tuberculoma are extremely rare in children and most of those patients present with headache, vomiting, visual disturbances, and hypofunction of the pituitary gland. In this case report, we present a girl with tuberculosis, who developed significant weight gain in combination with pituitary dysfunction, which recovered after antituberculosis treatment. CASE PRESENTATION: An 11-year old girl presented with headache, fever ...

Bacterial pneumonia greatly contributes to the disease burden and mortality of lower respiratory tract infections among all age groups and risk profiles. Therefore, laboratory modelling of bacterial pneumonia remains important for elucidating the complex host-pathogen interactions and to determine drug efficacy and toxicity. In vitro cell culture enables for the creation of high-throughput, specific disease models in a tightly controlled ...

Apart from genetic resistance, which is a well-known, population-wide antibiotic survival strategy, bacteria also employ persistence to overcome antibiotic treatment. Persistence is a bet-hedging strategy of the population in which a small, isogenic subpopulation is transiently tolerant to antibiotic action, mostly by being in a slow- or non-growing state. Persistence is a transient phenotype, meaning that these so-called persister cells can ...

Wellness on Wheels (WoW) is a model of mobile systematic tuberculosis (TB) screening of
high-risk populations combining digital chest radiography with computer-aided automated
detection (CAD) and chronic cough screening to identify presumptive TB clients in communities,
health facilities, and prisons in Nigeria. The model evolves to address technical, political,
and sustainability challenges. Screening methods were ...