Background: The World Health Organization recommends a minimum intake of 400 g or five servings of Fruits and Vegetables (FVs) per day for the prevention of chronic diseases. Objective: The present study aims to describe the prevalence and factors associated with inadequate FV intake in a sample of Angolan adults who participated in the CardioBengo study. Methods: It is a subset analysis of CardioBengo, a commu...
Introduction: The management of Sickle cell disease (SCD) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) suffers from the lack of universal infant and population screening, inadequate access to standard treatment, and poor public health prioritization amidst unstable political systems. Areas covered: The state of evidence-based management of SCD in SSA was investigated, including the sustainability of international funding agenci...
Background: The HIV/AIDS pandemic remains a public health concern. Studies on host genetic polymorphisms that confer resistance to HIV-1 infection or delay HIV disease progression are scarce in African countries. Herein, we investigate the proportion of the mutated phenotype of the AIDS-related polymorphisms CCR5-Delta32, CCR2-64I, and SDF1-3'A in HIV-infected and uninfected individuals in Luanda, the capital o...
Rotavirus alphagastroenteritidis (R. alphagastroenteritidis) remains the leading cause of pediatric diarrhea. Although Angola introduced Rotarix®, the human monovalent R. alphagastroenteritidis vaccine since 2014 as part of its routine childhood immunization program, no follow-up study has been conducted. This study aimed to evaluate the distribution of R. alphagastroenteritidis genotypes among children under f...
Background/Objectives: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a global cause of vision loss, with limited therapeutic options highlighting the need for effective biomarkers. This study aimed to characterize plasma DNA methyltransferase expression (DNMT1, DNMT3A, and DNMT3B) in AMD patients and explore divergent expression patterns across different stages of AMD. Methods: Thirty-eight AMD patients were prospe...
Introduction: The management of Sickle cell disease (SCD) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) suffers from the lack of universal infant and population screening, inadequate access to standard treatment and poor public health prioritization amidst unstable political systems. Areas covered: The state of evidencebased management of SCD in SSA was investigated including sustainability of international funding agencies. Exp...
Background: Sickle Cell Anemia (SCA) is a monogenic disease, although its severity and response to treatment are very heterogeneous. Objectives: This study aims to characterize a cohort of Angolan children with SCA and evaluate their response to hydroxyurea (HU) treatment and the potential side effects and toxicity. Methods: The study enrolled 215 patients between 3 and 12 years old before and after the adminis...
Introdução: A doença das células falciformes (DCF) é uma doença hereditária severa, com uma incidência especialmente elevada na África subsariana, sendo responsável por 50% da mortalidade em crianças com menos de 5 anos. A prevalência desta doença genética em Angola ronda os 2%, sendo a doença genética mais frequentes no mundo. A identificação da doença à nascença permite o seguimento das crianças em consultas ...
Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is marked by episodes of acute vaso-occlusive crises, severe anemia, acute chest syndrome, multi-organ damage and stroke, among others. Pregnancy in these patients is associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes, such as intrauterine growth restriction, perinatal and maternal mortality, low birth weight, eclampsia, pre-eclampsia, and stroke. Therefore, increasing the surveilla...
Obesity is a clinical condition characterized by an abnormal accumulation of adipose tissue with an increased risk of developing illnesses such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. In obesity, the secretion of proinflammatory adipokines contributes to oxidative stress that can lead to a decline in the length of telomeres. Telomeres are structures of repetitive sequences delimiting the chromos...