When comparing these patterns to foot pain scores (i.e. Foot Function Index, Manchester-Oxford Foot Questionnaire) and radiographic hallux angle measurements, we observed that patients with increased pressure under metatarsal 1 reported less foot pain than other patients in the cohort, while patients with abnormal pressures in the heel showed more severe hallux valgus angles and more foot pain. Also, incidences of pes planus were higher in our hallux valgus cohort compared to the modelled healthy controls. PAPPI helped to clarify recent discrepancies in group-level plantar pressure studies and showed its unique ability to produce quantitative, interpretable, and personalized analyses for plantar pressure images.BACKGROUND Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART), especially during the postpartum period, remains a major challenge in the efforts towards eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV. #link# This study examined the levels and determinants of postpartum adherence to ART among mothers with HIV in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. METHODS In this cross-sectional analytical study, we interviewed 495 postpartum women with HIV between January and May 2018. We measured postpartum adherence using six questions probing participants’ adherence behaviours since child birth. find more categorised the adherence behaviours into complete adherence (mothers who reported no missed episode(s) of ART since child birth) and suboptimal adherence (mothers with any missed episode(s) of ART). Adjusted and unadjusted logistic regression models were used to examine the determinants of postpartum adherence to ART. RESULTS Overall, 63.9% reported complete adherence during the postpartum period but the rates varied by socio-demographic and behaencouraged among mothers to facilitate partner support.BACKGROUND The prevalence of disabilities is rising steadily, reflecting an aging population and an increasing burden of chronic conditions affecting quality of life. There are scant national data on the prevalence of disability among individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The main objective was to estimate the prevalence of common disabilities among US-based individuals diagnosed with COPD. METHODS Data from the BRFSS, a national telephone survey examining health-related behaviors in 2016-2017 were analyzed. The study population consisted of individuals with self-reported COPD (N = 38352 in 2016 and N = 35423 in 2017). The prevalence of disabilities in hearing, vision, cognition, mobility, and independent living were obtained and adjusted with sampling weights. Healthcare access measures were described by type of disability. RESULTS Mobility disability had the highest prevalence of 45.9 (44.8-47.0) % in 2016 and 48.4 (47.3-49.5) % in 2017 among respondents with COPD. The prevalence of disabilities was highest among those 45-64 years old, except for hearing and cognition. Hearing disabilities were most prevalent among males with COPD while cognitive and mobility disabilities were most prevalent among females with COPD. While differences in the prevalence of disabilities were observed, access to health care was similar by disability type and age group among respondents. CONCLUSION Contrary to expectation, the highest prevalence of disabilities was found not to be among those 65 years old and above. Further research is needed to explain this age-specific shift in the burden of disability, as long-term care planning and prevention support systems should be informed by the demographical patterns of disabilities among individuals with COPD.Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic human pathogen, which causes serious disease in immunocompromised hosts. Infection with this pathogen is particularly relevant in HIV+ patients, where it leads to around 200,000 deaths per annum. A key feature of cryptococcal pathogenesis is the ability of the fungus to survive and replicate within the phagosome of macrophages, as well as its ability to be expelled from host cells via a novel non-lytic mechanism known as vomocytosis. Here we show that cryptococcal vomocytosis from macrophages is strongly enhanced by viral coinfection, without altering phagocytosis or intracellular proliferation of the fungus. This effect occurs with distinct, unrelated human viral pathogens and is recapitulated when macrophages are stimulated with the anti-viral cytokines interferon alpha or beta (IFNα or IFNβ). Importantly, the effect is abrogated when type-I interferon signalling is blocked, thus underscoring the importance of type-I interferons in this phenomenon. Lastly, our data help resolve previous, contradictory animal studies on the impact of type I interferons on cryptococcal pathogenesis and suggest that secondary viral stimuli may alter patterns of cryptococcal dissemination in the host.Previous research has established a correlation between literacy skills and sign language skills among deaf children raised in signing families, but little research has examined the impact of early signing skills on the rate of growth of emergent literacy in early childhood. A subset of data was extracted from a larger dataset containing national longitudinal data from a three-year investigation of early literacy development of deaf children who were between the ages of three and six at the outset of the study. Selection criteria for inclusion in this limited sample included 1) being rated as having little or no access to spoken language and 2) being raised in homes in which signs were regularly used as a means of communication (N = 56). Our purpose was twofold 1) to examine and describe the trajectories of growth in letter and word identification skill for this sample in relation to the participants’ initial ages; and 2) to assess the degree to which the presence or deaf parents in the home (DoD) and the receptive American Sign Language (ASL) skills of the participants impacted both the level of emerging print literacy and its rate of growth over the three year period. We hypothesized that both the presence of a deaf parent in the home and the acquisition of ASL skills, a strong native language, would contribute to both the overall letter and word identification skills and to the rates of growth of this skill over time. Results indicated that having a deaf parent did, indeed, impact emergent literacy attainment, but its effect was rendered nonsignificant when ASL skill was taken into consideration. Possession of stronger ASL skills, whether or not the children had deaf parents, contributed significantly to both the levels and rate of growth. The findings contribute to the body of work that emphasizes the importance early language skills (spoken or signed) to later academic success and dispels the myth that deaf children with deaf parents have exclusive access to the acquisition of these skills.