Explore the vast range of titles available.

Background There is growing evidence that perinatal HIV infection and exposure affect s alivary pH and flow rate in children in most parts of the world, but not against the background of caries and the African demographic. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of HIV infection as well as exposure on salivary properties and their influence upon the dental caries experience among school-aged children in Nigeria. Method This cross-sectional study assessed the salivary flow rates and salivary pH of HIV infected and exposed school-aged (4–11) children receiving care at a Nigerian tertiary hospital. A total of 266 consenting participants which comprised of three groups as follows: (1) HIV Infected (HI) ( n  = 87), (2) HIV Exposed and Uninfected (HEU) ( n  = 82) and (3) HIV Unexposed and Uninfected (HUU) ( n  = 97) were recruited for the study. Questionnaires completed by parents/guardians were used for data collection. Three calibrated dentists performed oral examinations for dental caries. International Caries Detection and Assessment Scores (ICDAS) was used and presented as dmft/DMFT. Salivary pH was measured using MColourpHast™ pH indicator strips, while salivary flow rate was determined by collecting unstimulated whole saliva using the suction method. Data analysis relied on comparative statistics to determine the correlation between HIV exposure and infection on salivary pH and flow rates. Result Across the groups, (HI, HEU, and HUU) mean pH of the HI was significantly less than that of HEU and HUU. Similarly, there was a statistically significant difference in the SFR across the three groups ( p  = 0.004). Other variables such as gender, age and oral hygiene status expressed by the gingival inflammatory scores had no significant influence on the pH and SFR of study participants. There was a rather unexpected positive correlation of DMFT of HI and HEU groups with increasing salivary flow rate; though, the relationship was weak and not significant. Conclusion Perinatal HIV exposure and infection significantly impact salivary pH and flow rate among school-aged children in Nigeria. The findings of this study imply that HIV infection influenced the salivary pH, while HIV maternal exposure (without infection) impacted salivary flow rates when compared to the controls.

IntroductionPersistent oral infections with high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) are a potential cause of most oropharyngeal cancers (OPCs). Oral HR-HPV infection and persistence are significantly higher in people living with HIV (PLWH). Most data on oral HR-HPV in PLWH come from developed countries or adult cohorts. This study aims to investigate oral HR-HPV susceptibility and persistence among children and adolescents living with HIV (CALHIV) and to understand the roles of perinatal HIV exposure, infection, antiretroviral treatment, and the oral microbiome.Methods and analysisThis prospective cohort study is ongoing at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Nigeria, involving mother-child pairs followed at 6-month intervals for 2 years. Participants include children aged 9–18 and their mothers aged 18 and above. The study targets 690 adolescents in three groups: 230 CALHIV, 230 HIV-exposed but uninfected and 230 HIV-unexposed and uninfected. Oral rinse, saliva, buccal swabs and supragingival plaque samples are collected at each visit. Blood samples are tested for HIV, Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV), with CD4, CD8 and full blood counts performed. Oral HPV is assessed for incidence, persistence, and clearance. Statistical analyses to look for associations between cohort baseline characteristics and findings will be conducted using univariable and multivariable models for repeated data and high-dimensional microbiome data. All statistical tests will be two-sided; a p value <0.05 will indicate significance. Multiple comparisons will be adjusted using the False Discovery Rate (FDR) correction to control for Type I error.Ethics and disseminationThe study was approved by Rutgers State University (Pro2022000949) and the UBTH (ADM/E22/A/VOL. VII/14813674). Informed consent was obtained from all parents/guardians.

Background This study seeks to understand better the mechanisms underlying the increased risk of caries in HIV-infected school-aged Nigerian children by examining the relationship between the plaque microbiome and perinatal HIV infection and exposure. We also seek to investigate how perinatal HIV infection and exposure impact tooth-specific microbiomes' role on caries disease progression. Methods The participants in this study were children aged 4 to 11 years recruited from the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Nigeria, between May to November 2019. Overall, 568 children were enrolled in three groups: 189 HIV-infected (HI), 189 HIV-exposed but uninfected (HEU) and 190 HIV-unexposed and uninfected (HUU) as controls at visit 1 with a 2.99% and 4.90% attrition rate at visit 2 and visit 3 respectively. Data were obtained with standardized questionnaires. Blood samples were collected for HIV, HBV and HCV screening; CD4, CD8 and full blood count analysis; and plasma samples stored for future investigations; oral samples including saliva, buccal swabs, oropharyngeal swab, tongue swab, dental plaque were collected aseptically from participants at different study visits. Conclusions Results from the study will provide critical information on how HIV exposure, infection, and treatment, influence the oral microbiome and caries susceptibility in children. By determining the effect on community taxonomic structure and gene expression of dental microbiomes, we will elucidate mechanisms that potentially create a predisposition for developing dental caries. As future plans, the relationship between respiratory tract infections, immune and inflammatory markers with dental caries in perinatal HIV infection and exposure will be investigated.

Objectives: Dyslipidaemia has been reported in HIV infections which often results in cardiovascular disease (CVD). Given that HIV is associated with inflammation with resultant adverse clinical outcomes, this study seeks to assess the correlation between selected markers of inflammation and markers of cardiovascular diseases among HIV patients in Benin City, Nigeria. Methods: Selected inflammatory markers (such as Albumin, CD4, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII)) and markers of CVD (such as atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), Castelli's risk index(CRI), triglyceride-high density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (TG/HDL-c) and triglyceride glucose index (TyG index)) were evaluated in 173 participants comprising 81 HIV patients on Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART), 45 HAART-naive HIV patients and 48 non-HIV individuals (Controls) attending out-patients clinics in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City. Using blood samples obtained from each of the participants, albumin, CD4 count, Full blood count (FBC) and lipid profile test were determined using standard methods from where other markers were calculated. Results: CD4 count and albumin were lower in HAART-naive HIV patients than in both those on HAART and non-HIV (P<0.001) whereas PLR were higher. AIP and TG/HDL-c were significantly higher in HAART-naive HIV patients than in those on-HAART and non-HIV subjects. In HAART-naive patients, albumin with AIP, TyG index and TG/HDL-c, and CD4 with CRI and TG/HDL-c correlated negatively. This was the same for albumin with TyG index amongst HIV patients on HAART. In non-HIV patients, CRI had a significant positive correlation with NLR, PLR and SII, while CD4 with TG/HDL-c, AIP and TyG index was the reverse relationship. Using AIP and TG/HDL-c cut-off values, HAART naive HIV patients had a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease than non-HIV patients, followed by HIV patients on HAART. Conclusion: This study showed that HIV is linked to lipid abnormalities as a result of chronic inflammation. Therefore, HIV patients should be monitored for inflammation and CVD.

Pyomyositis is a bacterial infection occurring mainly in skeletal muscles. It is most commonly caused by Staphylococcus aureus with initial symptoms including muscle pain, swelling, and site tenderness. When available, the most accurate technique to determine the extent and the specific location of disease is the magnetic resonance imaging. Successful management includes early recognition, timely surgical debridement or drainage, and appropriate antibiotic therapy. This case report describes a case of Mycobacterium fortuitum pyomyositis in an elderly male associated with challenges of successful diagnosis.

Background The oral microbiome consists of distinct microbial communities that colonize various ecological niches within the oral cavity, the composition of which are influenced by nutrient and substrate availability, host genetics, diet, behavior, age, and other diverse host and environmental factors. Unlike other densely populated human-associated microbial ecosystems (e.g., gut, urogenital), the oral microbiome is directly and frequently exposed to external influences, contributing to its relatively lower stability over time. In individuals with compromised immunity, such as those living with HIV, the composition and stability of the oral microbiome may be especially vulnerable to disruption. Cross-sectional studies of the oral microbiome in children living with HIV capture a glimpse of this temporal dynamism, yet a full appreciation of the relative stability, robusticity, and spatial structure of the oral environment is necessary to understand the role of microbial communities in promoting health or disease in the context of HIV. Here, we investigate the spatial and temporal stability of the oral microbiome over three sampling time points in the context of HIV infection and exposure. Individual teeth were sampled from a cohort of 565 Nigerian children with varying levels of tooth decay severity (i.e., caries disease). We collected 1960 supragingival plaque samples and characterized the oral microbiome using a metataxonomic approach targeting an approximately 478 bp region of the bacterial rpo C gene. Results Both HIV infection and exposure have significant, if subtle, effects on the stability of the supragingival plaque microbiome. Specifically, we observed (1) a slight but significant reduction in taxonomic turnover among HIV-exposed and infected children; (2) an association between HIV infection and a more homogenized oral community across the anterior and posterior dentition in children living with HIV; and (3) a relationship between impaired immunity, lower taxonomic turnover over time, and an elevated frequency of cariogenic taxa, including Streptococcus mutans , in children living with HIV. Conclusions Despite the influence of various contributing factors, we observe an effect of HIV status on both the temporal and spatial stability of the oral microbiome. Specifically, the results presented here indicate that the oral microbiome shows less community change over time in children living with or exposed to HIV, which we hypothesize may be linked to a reduced capacity to adapt to environmental changes. The observed taxonomic rigidity among children living with HIV may signal community dysfunction, potentially leading to a higher incidence of oral diseases, including caries, in this cohort. -7X2s65mtVxV_hGnFfTU7i Video Abstract

Pyomyositis is a bacterial infection occurring mainly in skeletal muscles. It is most commonly caused by Staphylococcus aureus with initial symptoms including muscle pain, swelling, and site tenderness. When available, the most accurate technique to determine the extent and the specific location of disease is the magnetic resonance imaging. Successful management includes early recognition, timely surgical debridement or drainage, and appropriate antibiotic therapy. This case report describes a case of Mycobacterium fortuitum pyomyositis in an elderly male associated with challenges of successful diagnosis.

Whole metagenome shotgun sequencing (WMS) is widely used to profile microbial function. However, technical variability in sequencing and analysis often obscures true biological patterns. Large-scale studies are particularly susceptible to batch effects, such as differences in sequencing depth and platform and annotation strategies, as well as sample-to-flow-cell assignments. However, the relative effects of these factors on functional inference in such studies have yet to be systematically evaluated.We analyzed oral-rinse WMS data from a study cohort including 671 Nigerian youths aged 9-18, sequenced on two Illumina platforms. Microbial molecular functionality encoded in these data were annotated using the mi-faser/Fusion pipeline, to capture the broad functional repertoire, and HUMAnN 3/EC numbers pipeline to characterize curated enzymatic activities. We then quantified how technical factors and batch effects shaped the recovery of microbial functionality. Three findings of our work were most salient. First, we observed that the choice of annotation strategy traded off between breadth and specificity of functional coverage. Second, we found that low-prevalence functions were disproportionately lost at shallow sequencing depths, indicating that in e.g. case-control studies with few representatives of the minor class, sequencing depth could critically impact study resolution. Finally, using our newly developed model relating sequencing depth to functional recovery, we demonstrated that increasing sequencing depth does not directly or proportionally improve functional recall. That is, at as little as 10% of this study's sequencing depth, 30% of the estimated complete microbiome functional repertoire was detectable. However, even at the full depth used in this study, we were only able to recover an estimated 60% of that complete functional repertoire. Together, these findings and our depth-to-function mapping framework provide practical guidelines for the design and interpretation of WMS studies. Coordinating sequencing depth planning with annotation strategy, experimental design, and rigorous batch control is thus essential for robust detection of microbial functions and for ensuring reproducible microbiome insights.