BACKGROUND Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are highly prevalent in northeast Brazil, but factors associated with the presence of an STI have rarely been studied systematically. METHODOLOGY We performed a population-based study to assess factors associated with STIs in women of reproductive age (12 to 49 years) in a rural setting in northeast Brazil. A total of 734 women were eligible; ...

BACKGROUND Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the world and the most common cancer in developing countries. Pap smear is and effective tool that can prevent death due to cervical cancer. The aim of this study was to determine the factors related to doing regular Pap-smear test based on the theory of planned behavior. METHODS In this cross-sectional study, conducte...

BACKGROUND Even though commercial nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) have become the most frequently used molecular tests for laboratory diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), published studies report variable estimates of their diagnostic accuracy. We analysed the accuracy of commercial NAATs for the diagnosis of pulmonary TB in smear positive and smear negative respiratory samples us...

BACKGROUND Cervical cancer is the predominant cancer among women in Kenya and second most common in women in developing regions. Population-based cytological screening and early treatment reduces morbidity and mortality associated with the cancer. We determined the occurrence of cervical precancerous changes and cervical microbial infections (Trichomonas vaginalis, Candida albicans, Neisseria g...

Autofocusing is a fundamental procedure towards automated microscopic evaluation of blood smear and pap smear samples for clinical diagnosis. This paper presents comparison results of 16 selected focus algorithms based on 8000 static bright-field images and 1600 dynamic autofocusing trials using 10 blood smear and pap smear samples. Besides static behaviour, dynamic autofocusing performance is ...

Aim: To study the microbiological and epidemiological profile of patients with suppurative corneal ulcer presenting in a rural referral center situated Sub-Himalayan territory north India. The was conducted to evaluate epidemiology frequency mycotic keratitis among identify various fungal species as etiological agents.
 Methods: Corneal scrapings from 56 ulcers were subjected direct micros...

OBJECTIVE To identify alterations in the cytokine profile and microbial ecosystem of the vagina in association with cervical dysplasia. METHODS Demographics, lifestyle variables and Papanicolau (Pap) smear results of subjects presenting to the same site for gynecologic complaints, obstetric visits or colposcopy were prospectively recorded. Vaginal smear for Gram stain, aerobic and anaerobic c...