Weight status and iron deficiency among urban Malian women of reproductive age

The present study investigated the association between weight status and Fe deficiency (ID) among urban Malian women of reproductive age. Height, weight, serum ferritin (SF), soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations were measured in sixty apparently healthy women aged 15-49 years old in Bamako, Mali. Prevalences of overweight and obese were 19 and 9%, respectively. SF was non-significantly different between overweight (84 mu g/l) and normal-weight women (52 mu g/l). The prevalence of ID (SF 8.3 mg/l) cases were recorded in the overweight and obese groups. The prevalence OR of ID (SF <12 mu g/l) in the overweight group was NS (OR = 0.3; P=0.363). Conversely, the chronic energy deficiency group was at a significantly higher risk of ID than the normal-weight group, adjusting or not for CRP (OR = 7.7; 95% CI 1.49, 39.96; P=0.015). The lack of association between overweight and ID in the present study could be due to the fact that the excess of body fat of the women might not be critical to induce chronic inflammation related to reduced Fe absorption. Future research based on a larger convenience sample should be designed to further investigate associations between overweight, obesity and ID in developing countries

Efficacité d’extraits botaniques et de Cydim Super dans la lutte contre la cochenille (Dysmicoccus brevipes) associée à la maladie du wilt chez l’ananas

Cydim super et les extraits aqueux du piment (Capsicum frutescens), du neem (Azadirachta indica) et d’hyptis (Hyptis suaveolens), ont été testés dans un dispositif de bloc de Fisher pour leur efficacité à contrôler la cochenille farineuse (Dysmicoccus brevipes) de l’ananas (Ananas comosus). Les essais ont été conduits avec cayenne lisse au champ à Loto-Dénou, Allada en conditions d’infestation naturelle et dans la serre à l’Institut International d’Agriculture Tropicale station du Bénin où les cochenilles ont été multipliées sur les fruits de potiron pour être lâchées à raison de 20 insectes par plant avant la pulvérisation des produits. Après application des produits, la densité des cochenilles a chuté dans toutes les parcelles sauf les parcelles témoins. Les parcelles traitées avec Cydim super ont montré la densité la plus basse (0, 288) significativement différente des autres au seuil de 5% (Duncan multiple Range Test) suivi de l’extrait de Hyptis suaveolens (0,905) pour atteindre 0 et 0,047 respectivement. Les parcelles témoins ont donné plus de fruits affectés par le wilt que les autres. En serre, Cydim super a été aussi le produit le plus efficace avec une moyenne de 18,60 cochenilles mortes, suivi de hyptis avec un nombre moyen d’insectes morts de 9,20.Mots clés : Extraits-aqueux, piment, neem, hyptis, insecticide, virus

Unusual intraparenchymal pontomedullary epidermoid cyst in a 2 year-old: case report and literature review.

BACKGROUND: Intrinsic brainstem epidermoid cysts are rare, benign, slow growing lesions. Their eloquence preclude complete excision, however subtotal resection will often result in prolonged or sometimes permanent relief of presenting symptoms and signs. We describe an unusual case and review the literature of this pathology in the paediatric population. CASE DESCRIPTION: We report an intra-axial pontine epidermoid cyst in a 2-year-old girl who presented with developmental delay, multiple cranial nerve palsies and pneumonia. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated an intrinsic pontine lesion with partial restricted diffusion and an enhancing plaque, the latter not typically seen in congenital lesions like epidermoid. However, gross surgical inspection and histopathology confirmed an epidermoid. CONCLUSION: Our case, supported by the literature, shows that brain stem epidermoid cysts may have atypical radiological characteristics, and that near total resection remains safe and can improve outcome

Reshaping the African Internet: From scattered islands to a connected continent

There is an increasing awareness amongst developing regions on the importance of localizing Internet traffic in the quest for fast, affordable, and available Internet access. In this paper, we focus on Africa, where 37 IXPs are currently interconnecting local ISPs, but mostly at the country level. An option to enrich connectivity on the continent and incentivize content providers to establish presence in the region is to interconnect ISPs present at isolated IXPs by creating a distributed IXP layout spanning the continent. The goal of this paper is to investigate whether such IXP interconnection would be possible, and if successful, to estimate the best-case benefits that could be realized in terms of traffic localization and performance. Our hope is that quantitatively demonstrating the benefits will provide incentives for ISPs to intensify their peering relationships in the region. However, it is challenging to estimate this best-case scenario, due to numerous economic, political, and geographical factors influencing the region. Towards this end, we begin with a thorough analysis of the environment in Africa. We then investigate a naive approach to IXP interconnection, which shows that a theoretically optimal solution would be infeasible in practice due to the prevailing socio-economic conditions in the region. We therefore provide an innovative, realistic four-step interconnection scheme to achieve the distributed IXP layout that considers and parameterizes external socio-economic factors using publicly available datasets. We demonstrate that our constrained solution doubles the percentage of continental intra-African paths, reduces their lengths, and drastically decreases the median of their RTTs as well as RTTs to ASes hosting the top 10 global and top 10 regional Alexa websites. Our approach highlights how, given real-world constraints, a solution requires careful considerations in order to be practically realizable.Rodérick Fanou was partially supported by IMDEA Networks Institute, US NSF grant CNS-1414177, and the project BRADE (P2013/ICE-2958) from the Directorate General of Universities and Research, Board of Education, Madrid Regional Governement. Francisco Valera was partially funded by the European Commission under FP7 project LEONE (FP7-317647). Amogh Dhamdhere was partially funded by US NSF grants CNS-1414177 and CNS-1513847.Publicad

Hematological changes among Beninese motor-bike taxi drivers exposed to benzene by urban air pollution

Exposure to high-concentration of benzene in polluted air has been associated with bone marrow deficiency, aplastic anemia and leukemia. However, epidemiological studies have reported conflicting data following human exposure to benzene levels below 1 ppm (that is, 3.2 mg/m3). Therefore we investigated the influence of outdoor air benzene on peripheral blood cells among exposed motor-biketaxi drivers (MBTD) in which specific IgG antibodies against reactive benzene metabolites, such as hydroquinone (HQ) and para-benzoquinone (p-BQ) are identified and quantified for further use as biomarker of exposure. We compared 144 MBTD with 30 unexposed age and sex-matched controls. The mean age &plusmn; SD (95% CI) were: MBTD 39.5 &plusmn; 7.82 (38.2 - 40.7) and village residents 40.3 &plusmn; 10.56 (39.1-43.0). Personal benzene exposure was assessed using GABIE diffusive samplers. The levels of specific IgG antibodies to HQ and p-BQ were determined by ELISA. The peripheral blood cells were counted by an automated analyzer. Benzene, Toluene and Xylene levels were much higher in MBTD in comparison to the control group. Benzene exposure levels ranged from 0.012 to 0.550 ppm in MBTD. Their average exposure level per one week was 0.126&plusmn;0.206 ppm. Accordingly, MBTD had significantly higher levels of specific IgG antibodies to HQ and p-BQ compared to the controls (p&lt; 0.001). WBC, lymphocytes, eosinophils and platelets were significantly decreased in MBTD, whereas RBC and other blood cell numbers remained unchanged. Total WBC, lymphocytes and eosinophils counts were decreased among exposed MBTD compared to unexposed controls. We suggest the use of these blood parameters together with specific IgG antibodies to HQ and p-BQ as biomarkers in biological monitoring of low level benzene exposure. Larger studies are however required to validate this new approach of health survey in workers exposed to benzene.Key words: Benzene, motor-bike-taxi drivers, specific immune responses, peripheral blood cell count

Maladies et plantes vasculaires du Karité (Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertn) au Bénin

La présente étude vise à évaluer les maladies et les plantes vasculaires du karité (Vitellaria paradoxa C. F. Gaertn) dans les savanes Soudanienne (SS) et Nord guinéenne (SNG) du Bénin. Pour ce faire, quarante sites au total ont été prospectés au cours du mois de juillet 2018. Sur chaque site, l’incidence et la sévérité des symptômes de maladies, la densité et la distribution des plantes vasculaires ont été étudiées. Des échantillons de feuilles malades, des plantes vasculaires du karité ont été prélevés pour lʼidentification au laboratoire. Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Pestalotiopsis sp, Xanthomonas sp ont été les agents pathogènes identifiés. Les valeurs d’incidence étaient élevées dans la SS (59,6% L. theobromae, et de 42,2% Xanthomonas sp) et dans la SNG (67,5% Pestalotiopsis sp et de 55% L. theobromae). Les valeurs de sévérité étaient élevées dans la SS (39% L. theobromae et de 30,6% Xanthomonas sp) et dans la SNG (54,7% Pestalotiopsis sp et 43% L. theobromae). Les données collectées sur la densité des plantes vasculaires ont montré une Orchidiaceae holo-épiphyte (Calyptrochilum christyanum), une Moraceae hémi-épiphyte (Ficus thonningii), une Renonculaceae (Alafia barteri) et deux Loranthaceae (Tapinanthus dodoneifolius, Tapinanthus globiferus). T. dodoneifolius et T. globiferus sont plus répandus avec des taux d’infestation moyens respectifs de 68,67% et de 66,58% et des densités moyennes par plant respectives de 5,64 touffes et de 2,52 touffes. Ainsi, les efforts d’amélioration de la production de karité doivent prendre en compte les stratégies de lutte contre ces agents pathogènes et plantes vasculaires. &nbsp; The present study aims to assess diseases and vascular plants of the shea-butter tree (Vitellaria paradoxa C. F. Gaertn) in Sudan Savanna (SS) and Northern Guinea Savanna (NGS) of Benin. Thus, forty (40) sites in total were surveyed in July 2018. On each site, incidence and severity of the disease symptoms, and density and distribution of vascular plants of the shea-butter tree were studied. Samples of diseased leaves and vascular plants of the sheabutter tree were collected for laboratory identification. The pathogens Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Pestalotiopsis sp) and Xanthomonas sp were identified. The incidence values were high in SS (59.6% L. theobromae and 42.2% Xanthomonas sp) and in NGS (67.5% Pestalotiopsis sp and 55% L. theobromae). The severity values were high in SS (39% L. theobromae and 30.6% Xanthomonas sp) and in NGS (54.7% Pestalotiopsis sp and 43% L. theobromae). Data collected on the density of vascular plants of the shea-butter tree showed one holo-epiphytic Orchidiaceae (Calyptrochilum christyanum), one Moraceae (Ficus thonningii), one Renonculaceae (Alafia barteri) and two Loranthaceae (Tapinanthus dodoneifolius, Tapinanthus globiferus). T. dodoneifolius and T. globiferus were more widespread with respectively infestation rate of 68.67% and 66.58%, and respectively average densities per shea plant of 5.64 tufts and 2.52 tufts. Thus, efforts to improve shea-butter production must take into account strategies for disease pathogens and vacular plants control in the sheabutter parklands in Benin

Nutrition training in medical and other health professional schools in West Africa: the need to improve current approaches and enhance training effectiveness

Background: Health professionals play a key role in the delivery of nutrition interventions. Improving the quality of nutrition training in health professional schools is vital for building the necessary human resource capacity to implement effective interventions for reducing malnutrition in West Africa. This study was undertaken to assess the current status of nutrition training in medical, nursing and midwifery schools in West Africa. Design: Data were collected from 127 training programs organized by 52 medical, nursing, and midwifery schools. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, we collected information on the content and distribution of nutrition instruction throughout the curriculum, the number of hours devoted to nutrition, the years of the curriculum in which nutrition was taught, and the prevailing teaching methods. Simple descriptive and bivariate analyses were performed. Results: Nutrition instruction occurred mostly during the first 2 years for the nursing (84%), midwifery (87%), and nursing assistant (77%) programs and clinical years in medical schools (64%). The total amount of time devoted to nutrition was on average 57, 56, 48, and 28 hours in the medical, nursing, midwifery, and nursing assistant programs, respectively. Nutrition instruction was mostly provided within the framework of a dedicated nutrition course in nursing (78%), midwifery (87%), and nursing assistant programs (100%), whereas it was mainly embedded in other courses in medical schools (46%). Training content was heavily weighted to basic nutrition in the nursing (69%), midwifery (77%), and nursing assistant (100%) programs, while it was oriented toward clinical practice in the medical programs (64%). For all the programs, there was little focus (<6 hours contact time) on public health nutrition. The teaching methods on nutrition training were mostly didactic in all the surveyed schools; however, we found an integrated model in some medical schools (12%). None of the surveyed institutions had a dedicated nutrition faculty. The majority (55%) of the respondents rated nutrition instruction in their institutions as insufficient. Conclusions: The results of our study reveal important gaps in current approaches to nutrition training in health professional schools in West Africa. Addressing these gaps is critical for the development of a skilled nutrition workforce in the region. Nutrition curricula that provide opportunities to obtain more insights about the basic principles of human nutrition and their application to public health and clinical practice are recommended

Ouidah et son patrimoine

L'étude sur Ouidah, petite ville de la côte du Bénin, se divise en trois parties. La première présente l'histoire de la cité du 18ème au début du 20ème siècle, les cultes vodouns qui s'y sont développés et le processus d'urbanisation. La 2ème partie inventorie les lieux patrimoniaux qui renvoient à cette histoire et aux traits culturels de cette société. La 3ème dresse un diagnostic des actions et des acteurs dans la ville, rappelle les caractéristiques du patrimoine bâti et propose des mesures pour sa conservation et sa valorisatio

Removal of PCR Error Products and Unincorporated Primers by Metal-Chelate Affinity Chromatography

Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography (IMAC) has been used for decades to purify proteins on the basis of amino acid content, especially surface-exposed histidines and “histidine tags” genetically added to recombinant proteins. We and others have extended the use of IMAC to purification of nucleic acids via interactions with the nucleotide bases, especially purines, of single-stranded RNA and DNA. We also have demonstrated the purification of plasmid DNA from contaminating genomic DNA by IMAC capture of selectively-denatured genomic DNA. Here we describe an efficient method of purifying PCR products by specifically removing error products, excess primers, and unincorporated dNTPs from PCR product mixtures using flow-through metal-chelate affinity adsorption. By flowing a PCR product mixture through a Cu2+-iminodiacetic acid (IDA) agarose spin column, 94–99% of the dNTPs and nearly all the primers can be removed. Many of the error products commonly formed by Taq polymerase also are removed. Sequencing of the IMAC-processed PCR product gave base-calling accuracy comparable to that obtained with a commercial PCR product purification method. The results show that IMAC matrices (specifically Cu2+-IDA agarose) can be used for the purification of PCR products. Due to the generality of the base-specific mechanism of adsorption, IMAC matrices may also be used in the purification of oligonucleotides, cDNA, mRNA and micro RNAs