A5074264148- Tuberculosis Research and Epidemiology
- HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
- Pneumonia and Respiratory Infections
- COVID-19 diagnosis using AI
- Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research
- HIV-related health complications and treatments
- Disaster Response and Management
- COVID-19 epidemiological studies
- HIV Research and Treatment
- Viral Infections and Vectors
- Molecular Biology Techniques and Applications
- HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk
- Radiomics and Machine Learning in Medical Imaging
- HIV/AIDS drug development and treatment
- Bayesian Methods and Mixture Models
- MRI in cancer diagnosis
- Trypanosoma species research and implications
- Mosquito-borne diseases and control
- Research on Leishmaniasis Studies
- Adolescent and Pediatric Healthcare
- Mycobacterium research and diagnosis
- Malaria Research and Control
- Innovative Microfluidic and Catalytic Techniques Innovation
- Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health
- Gene expression and cancer classification
Instituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde
2021-2025
European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer
2019-2023
University of Antwerp
2022
Research Institute for Tropical Medicine
2020
Ghent University
2014-2017
Maize is one of the major staple foods Sub-Saharan Africa and consumed as whole or dehulled grain. In this region, where environmental conditions favour fungal growth mycotoxin production, majority population are subsistence consumers who, unfortunately, have little no access to testing their food. an attempt develop feasible reduction strategies in dietary exposure population, a three-factorial design experiment was conducted examine compare efficacy hand sorting, flotation, dehulling...
Digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR) is an increasingly popular technology for detecting and quantifying target nucleic acids. Its advertised strength high precision absolute quantification without needing reference curves. The standard data analytic approach follows a seemingly straightforward theoretical framework but ignores sources of variation in the generating process. These stem from both technical biological factors, where we distinguish features that are 1) hard-wired equipment,...
Mpox (formerly monkeypox) is a viral disease caused by the mpox virus (MPXV), endemic in Central and West Africa currently causing global outbreak of international concern. Much remains unknown about sample types most suited for laboratory diagnosis. While it established that high loads can be found active skin lesions (currently recommended confirmation specimen type), WHO testing guidelines encourage use oropharyngeal swabs as an additional type diagnosis suggest investigating value other...
Introduction Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant public health challenge in many African communities, where underreporting and underdiagnosis are prevalent due to barriers accessing care inadequate diagnostic tools. This is particularly concerning hard-to-reach areas with high burden of TB/HIV co-infection, missed or delayed diagnoses exacerbate disease transmission, increase mortality, lead severe economic consequences. To address these challenges, it crucial evaluate innovative,...
Standard data analysis pipelines for digital PCR estimate the concentration of a target nucleic acid by digitizing end-point fluorescence parallel micro-PCR reactions, using an automated hard threshold. While it is known that misclassification has major impact on and substantially reduces accuracy, uncertainty this classification typically ignored. We introduce model-based clustering method to probability present (absent) in partition conditional its observed distributional shape no-template...
In most low-resource settings, microscopy still is the standard method for diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis, despite its limited sensitivity. Ethiopia, more sensitive molecular methods are not yet routinely used. This study compared five PCR with on two sample types collected from patients a suspected lesion to advise optimal Leishmania aethiopica . Between May and July 2018, skin scrapings (SS) blood exudate spotted filter paper (dry spot, DBS) were 111 four zones in Southern Ethiopia....
Abstract Introduction The number of individuals initiating antiretroviral pre‐exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is increasing, but we do not fully understand who coming forward for PrEP, how they use it and are followed‐up. objective this study was to examine PrEP user profiles, dynamics in follow‐up over time. Methods We conducted a cohort analysis longitudinally collected clinical record questionnaire data among users at an HIV centre Antwerp, Belgium, between June 2017 March 2020. profiles were...
Abstract Background Since the scale-up of routine viral load (VL) testing started in 2016, there is limited evidence on VL suppression rates under programmatic settings and groups at risk non-suppression. We conducted a study to estimate non-suppression (> 1000 copies/ml) its factors using "routine" "repeat after enhanced adherence counselling (EAC)" results. Methods an analytic cross-sectional secondary data collected between 2014 2018 from centrally located laboratory. analysed tests...
As untreated visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is fatal, reliable diagnostics are pivotal for accurate treatment allocation. The current diagnostic algorithm VL in Ethiopia, which based on the rK39 rapid test and microscopy of tissue smears, lacks sensitivity. This probably leads to missed cases patients not receiving treatment.We conducted a retrospective study stored microscopically negative spleen bone marrow smears from suspected collected at Leishmaniasis Research Treatment Center (LRTC)...
Diagnostic accuracy studies in pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) are complicated by the lack of a perfect reference standard. This limitation can be handled using latent class analysis (LCA), assuming independence between diagnostic test results conditional on true unobserved PTB status. Test could remain dependent, however, e.g. with tests based similar biological basis. If ignored, this gives misleading inferences. Our secondary data collected during first year (May 2018 -May 2019)...
Abstract Background CD4 measurement is pivotal in the management of advanced human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease. VISITECT Advanced Disease (VISITECT; AccuBio, Ltd) an instrument-free, point-of-care, semiquantitative test allowing visual identification ≤ 200 cells/µL or >200 cells/ µL from finger-prick venous blood. Methods As part a diagnostic accuracy study FUJIFILM SILVAMP TB LAM, people with HIV ≥18 years old were prospectively recruited 7 countries outpatient departments...
Objectives Use of computer-aided detection (CAD) software is recommended to improve tuberculosis screening and triage, but threshold determination challenging if reference testing has not been performed in all individuals. We aimed determine such thresholds through secondary analysis the 2019 Lesotho national prevalence survey. Methods Symptom chest radiographs were participants aged ≥15 years; those symptomatic or with abnormal provided samples for Xpert MTB/RIF culture testing. Chest...
It remains unclear why patients discontinue HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) care and to what extent they remain at risk for when do. We reviewed routinely collected medical records patient questionnaires performed an e-mail/telephone survey assess reasons discontinuing PrEP care, ongoing risks infection, associated factors. Patients with more than two registered visits from a clinic in Antwerp, Belgium between June 2017 February 2020 were included this study. who did not return visit...
Background Long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) are one of the key interventions in global fight against malaria. Since 2014, mass distribution campaigns LLINs aim for universal access by all citizens Burundi. In this context, we assess impact on malaria incidence, focusing endemic highland health districts. We also explored possible correlation between observed trends incidence with any variations climate conditions. Methods Malaria cases 2011—2019 were obtained from National Health...
Background: Tumour apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) from diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a putative pharmacodynamic/response biomarker but the relationship between drug-induced effects on ADC and underlying pathology has not been adequately defined. Hypothesis: Changes in during early chemotherapy reflect histological markers of tumour response as measured by regression grade (TRG). Methods: Twenty-six patients were enrolled study. Baseline, 14 days, pre-surgery...
Introduction Despite HIV viral load (VL) monitoring being serial, most studies use a cross-sectional design to evaluate the virological status of cohort. The objective our study was simplified approach calculate viraemic-time: proportion follow-up time with unsuppressed VL above limit detection. We estimated risk factors for higher viraemic-time and whether predicted mortality in second-line antiretroviral treatment (ART) cohort Myanmar. Methods conducted retrospective analysis people living...
In application studies of latent class analysis (LCA) evaluating imperfect diagnostic tests, residual dependence among the tests still remain even after conditioning on true disease status due to measured variables known affect prevalence and/or alter test accuracy. Presence severe comorbidities such as HIV in pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) diagnosis PTB and performance available use. This violates two key assumptions LCA: (1) that are independent conditional (2) sensitivity specificity...
Background The control of Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreaks relies on rapid diagnosis and prompt action, a daunting task in limited-resource contexts. This study develops prediction scores that can help healthcare workers improve their decision-making at the triage-point EVD suspect-cases during outbreaks. Methods We computed accuracy measurements predictors to assess diagnosing ability compared with reference standard GeneXpert® results, eastern DRC outbreak. developed predictive using...
To correlate changes in the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) from diffusion-weighted (DW)-MRI and standardised uptake value (SUV) fluorothymidine (18FLT)-PET/CT with histopathological estimates of response patients non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated neoadjuvant chemotherapy track longitudinal these biomarkers a multicentre, multivendor setting.14 operable NSCLC recruited to prospective, multicentre imaging trial (EORTC-1217) were platinum-based chemotherapy. 13 had DW-MRI...