Browsing by Author "Bbosa Nalwanga, Priscilla"

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    Diagnostic performance of blood inflammatory markers for tuberculosis screening in people living with HIV
    (PLoS ONE, 2018) Farr, Katherine; Ravindran, Resmi; Strnad, Luke; Chang, Emily; Chaisson, Lelia H.; Yoon, Christina; Worodria, William; Andama, Alfred; Ayakaka, Irene; Bbosa Nalwanga, Priscilla; Byanyima, Patrick; Kalema, Nelson; Kaswabuli, Sylvia; Katagira, Winceslaus; Denise Aman, Kyomugisha; Musisi, Emmanuel; Tumwine, Nuwagaba Wallen; Sanyu, Ingvar; Ssebunya, Robert; Davis, J. Lucian; Huang, Laurence; Khan, Imran H.; Cattamanchi, Adithya
    Approaches to screening for active tuberculosis (TB) among people living with HIV are inadequate, leading to missed diagnoses and poor implementation of preventive therapy. Methods Consecutive HIV-infected adults hospitalized at Mulago Hospital (Kampala, Uganda) between June 2011 and July 2013 with a cough � 2 weeks were enrolled. Patients underwent extensive evaluation for pulmonary TB. Concentrations of 43 cytokines/chemokines were measured at the same time point as C-reactive protein (CRP) in banked plasma samples using commercially-available multiplex kits. Advanced classification algorithms were used to rank cytokines/chemokines for their ability to identify TB, and to model the specificity of the top-ranked cytokines/chemokines individually and in combination with sensitivity constrained to � 90% as recommended for TB screening. Results The median plasma level of 5 biomarkers (IL-6, INF-γ, MIG, CRP, IL-18) was significantly different between patients with and without TB. With sensitivity constrained to 90%, all had low specificity with IL-6 showing the highest specificity (44%; 95% CI 37.4–49.5). Biomarker panels were found to be more valuable than any biomarker alone. A panel combining IFN-γ and IL-6 had the highest specificity (50%; 95% CI 46.7–53.3). Sensitivity remained high (>85%) for all panels among sputum smear-negative TB patients. Conclusions Direct measurement of unstimulated plasma cytokines/chemokines in peripheral blood is a promising approach to TB screening. Cytokine/chemokine panels retained high sensitivity for smear-negative TB and achieved improved specificity compared to individual cytokines/ chemokines. These markers should be further evaluated in outpatient settings where most TB screening occurs and where other illnesses associated with systematic inflammation are less common.
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    Knowledge, perceived risk and barriers to testicular self-examination among male university students in Uganda
    (Journal of Men's Health, 2012) Kanaabi Muliira, Joshua; Bbosa Nalwanga, Priscilla; Suubi Muliira, Rhoda; Nankinga, Ziada
    Testicular cancer (TC) is the most common malignancy among men aged 15–35 years and although Africa has one of the lowest prevalence rates, TC is often diagnosed late. The aim of this study was to describe TC knowledge, perceived risk and barriers to testicular self-examination (TSE) among young males in Uganda. Method: Self-administered questionnaires and a systematic random sampling technique were used to collect data from 323 male students in a Ugandan University. Results: The participants were mostly in the 18–22 years age range (59%) (mean age = 22 2.5 years). The majority of participants (87%) did not know what age group was most at risk for TC, when to perform TSE (71%) or whether testicular lumps are a sign of TC (77%). Participants mostly perceived their risk for TC as being either low (32%) or moderate (58%). The mean perceived risk for TC was 1.8 0.61 and few participants (14%) were performing TSE regularly. Most participants (80%) reported a lack of skill for performing TSE as well as perceiving TSE as embarrassing (87%) and time consuming (79%). Selfreported practice of TSE was found to be associated with different aspects of TC knowledge (P = 0.01). Conclusion: Young male Ugandans have little knowledge about TC and perceive their risk for this disease to be low. Findings show that having good knowledge about TC is associated with performing TSE. Implications for practice are that health care providers should scale-up health education about TC to empower young males with the knowledge and skills required for cancer preventive practices and behaviors. 2011 WPMH GmbH. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.