Analyse de l’evolution de la typologie des exploitations cotonnieres engagees dans la transition agroecologique au Benin et pratiques agroecologiques

L’analyse socioéconomique de la transition agroécologique est entreprise au Bénin pour améliorer les connaissances sur ce processus en cours dans les zones cotonnières du pays. Cette étude permet de catégoriser les exploitants et d’identifier les pratiques agroécologiques susceptibles d’adoption. Les enquêtes ont porté sur 509 exploitants agricoles dans 5 communes : Banikoara, Kandi, Ouassa-Péhunco, Parakou et Savalou. Les données recueillies sont relatives aux caractéristiques socioéconomiques des exploitations et aux technologies agroécologiques. L’Analyse Factorielle des Données Mixtes est réalisée suivie d’une Classification Ascendante Hiérarchique pour déterminer les différents types d’exploitations. Une analyse comparative des contraintes d’adoption desdites technologies avec les caractéristiques des exploitations est faite. Cinq types d’exploitation ont été identifiés : exploitations cotonnières des agro éleveurs (34,18 %) ; exploitations cotonnières des petits producteurs (28,88 %) ; exploitations cotonnières des producteurs moyens (11,79 %) ; exploitations cotonnières des grands producteurs (21,22 %) et exploitations cotonnières mécanisées (3,93%). Les technologies agroécologiques susceptibles d’être adoptées par type d’exploitation ont été identifiées. Cette recherche sert de base aux études ultérieures sur la caractérisation des exploitations dans les zones cotonnières du Bénin. Elle est aussi utile pour le choix des pratiques agricoles à vulgariser selon les types d’exploitants en vue de booster les performances agroécologiques des exploitations bénéficiaires. English title: Typology evolution analysis of cotton farms involved in agroecological transition in Benin /analysis of the typology evolution of cotton farms involved in agroecological transition in Benin Abstract A socio-economic assessment of agroecological transition is undertaken in Benin to improve knowledge on the process promoted in cotton areas. This study enables to categorize farmers and to identify the agroecological practices likely to be adopted. Surveys carried out covered 509 farmers in 5 municipalities: Banikoara, Kandi, Ouassa-Péhunco, Parakou and Savalou. Data collected is related to socio-economic characteristics of farms and agroecological technologies. Factorial Analysis of Mixed Data was carried out followed by an Ascending Hierarchical Classification to determine types of farms. Correspondence analysis of constraints of adoption of agroecological technologies resulting from previous work with characteristics of farms types was made. Five types of farms have been identified: cotton farms of agro-pastoralists (34.18%); cotton farms of small producers (28.88%); cotton farms of medium producers (11.79%); cotton farms of large producers (21.22%) and mechanized cotton farms (3.93%). Agroecological technologies likely to be adopted by type of farm have been identified. This research serves as basis for subsequent studies on characterization of farms. It is also useful for choosing of agricultural practices to particular types of farmers in order to boost agroecological performance. Keywords: agroecological transition, agroecological technology, typology, AFDM, stability of types

EFFECT OF GERMINATION ON PROXIMATE COMPOSITION, MINERAL BIOAVAILABILITY AND FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES OF AFRICAN YAM BEAN SEED FLOUR

The effects of germination on the quality attributes of African yam bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa) seed, an underutilized legume were investigated. The seeds were subjected to germination at 25 ºC for 24 h, 48 h, 72 h and 96 h after which they were dried, milled into flour and the effects of germination on the proximate composition, anti-nutritional contents, mineral bioavailability and the functional properties of the flour samples were determined. The protein contents of the germinated flour samples ranged between 20.3 and 21.3% with highest value recorded after 24 h of germination. The fat content, ash content and the crude fibre of the germinated flour samples ranged from 2.27- 2.67%, 3.47 -3.80 and 2.10 - 2.67%, respectively. The fat and the crude fibre decreased with the geminating period while the ash contents increased. There was a general increase in the mineral availability with increase in germination period. Calcium content increased from 48.33 to 51.67 mg/100 g; iron content from 6.23 to 6.43 mg/100 g; magnesium from 41.67 to 48.33 mg/100 g; and phosphorus from 141.67 to 146.67 mg/100 g. There were reductions in the anti-nutritional contents of the flour samples with the germinating process.  There was about 50% reduction in oxalate content; 35% reduction in phytate and 100% in trypsin inhibitor content. The germination process had effects on the swelling capacity, foam capacity and water absorption capacity of the flour samples. The bulk density ranged between 0.67 and 0.71 g/cm3; water absorption capacity from 196.67% to 178.33%; swelling capacity from 1.77-1.50%; and foaming capacity 39.43-31.57%. Germination of African yam bean seed had effects on the proximate composition, functional properties, reduction of the anti-nutritional content and increment on the bioavailability of some minerals which could help to increase the potential of this underutilized crop in food products

Validation of the spiritual and religious attitudes in dealing with illness (SpREUK) in Portuguese Alzheimer‘s patients

Literature shows that spirituality is a helpful resource for patients to cope with illness, having a positive impact on their quality of life. This study aimed to analyze the psychometric qualities of the Spiritual and Religious Attitudes in Dealing with Illness (SpREUK) using a sample of 128 Portuguese Alzheimer‘s patients. Results showed that the instrument kept its original factorial structure, with a good adjustment and reliability in all subscales, and associations with quality of life and mindfulness. Therefore, the Portuguese version of the SpREUK has appropriate psychometric properties and is an important resource to assess spirituality in Alzheimer’s patients

Molecular epidemiology of pneumococci obtained from Gambian children aged 2–29 months with invasive pneumococcal disease during a trial of a 9-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine

BACKGROUND: The study describes the molecular epidemiology of Streptococcus pneumoniae causing invasive disease in Gambian children METHODS: One hundred and thirty-two S. pneumoniae isolates were recovered from children aged 2-29 months during the course of a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine trial conducted in The Gambia of which 131 were characterized by serotyping, antibiotic susceptibility, BOX-PCR and MLST. RESULTS: Twenty-nine different serotypes were identified; serotypes 14, 19A, 12F, 5, 23F, and 1 were common and accounted for 58.3% of all serotypes overall. MLST analysis showed 72 sequence types (STs) of which 46 are novel. eBURST analysis using the stringent 6/7 identical loci definition, grouped the isolates into 17 clonal complexes and 32 singletons. The population structure of the 8 serotype 1 isolates obtained from 4 vaccinated and 2 unvaccinated children were the same (ST 618) except that one (ST3336) of the isolates from an unvaccinated child had a novel ST which is a single locus variant of ST 618. CONCLUSION: We provide the first background data on the genetic structure of S. pneumoniae causing IPD prior to PC7V use in The Gambia. This data will be important for assessing the impact of PC7V in post-vaccine surveillance from The Gambia

Early acquisition and high nasopharyngeal co-colonisation by Streptococcus pneumoniae and three respiratory pathogens amongst Gambian new-borns and infants

BACKGROUND: Although Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), Staphylococcus aureus and Moraxella catarrhalis are important causes of invasive and mucosal bacterial disease among children, co-carriage with Streptococcus pneumoniae during infancy has not been determined in West Africa. METHODS: Species specific PCR was applied to detect each microbe using purified genomic DNA from 498 nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs collected from 30 Gambian neonates every two weeks from 0 to 6 months and bi-monthly up to 12 months. RESULTS: All infants carried S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae and M. catarrhalis at several time points during infancy. S.pneumoniae co-colonized the infant nasopharynx with at least one other pathogen nine out of ten times. There was early colonization of the newborns and neonates, the average times to first detection were 5, 7, 3 and 14 weeks for S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae, M. catarrhalis and S. aureus respectively. The prevalence of S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae and M. catarrhalis increased among the neonates and exceeded 80% by 13, 15 and 23 weeks respectively. In contrast, the prevalence of S. aureus decreased from 50% among the newborns to 20% amongst nine-week old neonates. S. pneumoniae appeared to have a strong positive association with H. influenzae (OR 5.03; 95% CI 3.02, 8.39; p<0.01) and M. catarrhalis (OR 2.20; 95% CI 1.29; p<0.01) but it was negatively associated with S. aureus (OR 0.53; 95% CI 0.30, 0.94; p=0.03). CONCLUSION: This study shows early acquisition and high co-carriage of three important respiratory pathogens with S. pneumoniae in the nasopharyngeal mucosa among Gambian neonates and infants. This has important potential implications for the aetiology of respiratory polymicrobial infections, biofilm formation and vaccine strategies

Discovery and Validation of Biomarkers to Guide Clinical Management of Pneumonia in African Children

Background Pneumonia is the leading cause of death in children globally. Clinical algorithms remain suboptimal for distinguishing severe pneumonia from other causes of respiratory distress such as malaria or distinguishing bacterial pneumonia and pneumonia from others causes, such as viruses. Molecular tools could improve diagnosis and management. Methods We conducted a mass spectrometry–based proteomic study to identify and validate markers of severity in 390 Gambian children with pneumonia (n = 204) and age-, sex-, and neighborhood-matched controls (n = 186). Independent validation was conducted in 293 Kenyan children with respiratory distress (238 with pneumonia, 41 with Plasmodium falciparum malaria, and 14 with both). Predictive value was estimated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results Lipocalin 2 (Lpc-2) was the best protein biomarker of severe pneumonia (AUC, 0.71 [95% confidence interval, .64–.79]) and highly predictive of bacteremia (78% [64%–92%]), pneumococcal bacteremia (84% [71%–98%]), and “probable bacterial etiology” (91% [84%–98%]). These results were validated in Kenyan children with severe malaria and respiratory distress who also met the World Health Organization definition of pneumonia. The combination of Lpc-2 and haptoglobin distinguished bacterial versus malaria origin of respiratory distress with high sensitivity and specificity in Gambian children (AUC, 99% [95% confidence interval, 99%–100%]) and Kenyan children (82% [74%–91%]). Conclusions Lpc-2 and haptoglobin can help discriminate the etiology of clinically defined pneumonia and could be used to improve clinical management. These biomarkers should be further evaluated in prospective clinical studies

Contributions of malaria, helminths, HIV and iron deficiency to anaemia in pregnant women attending ante-natal clinic in SouthWest Nigeria

Background: Iron deficiency is a dominant source of anaemia in many settings. To evaluate the key cause of anaemia in the study area, the prevalence of anaemia due to major public health diseases was compared with anaemia due to iron deficiency. Methods: Pregnant women were recruited from ante-natal (n=490) and HIV clinics (n=217) with their personal data documented using a questionnaire. Microscopy of Giemsa-stained thick smears was used for detection of malaria parasites while helminths in stools were detected using direct smear method. Haematocrit values were determined by capillary method. Serum ferritin levels were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Data was analysed using SPSS version 22.0. Results: The mean age of the recruited women was 28.6\ub15.4 years old. There were 68.1% cases of anaemia of which 35.5% was due to infections only predominantly HIV and malaria, 14.9% from unknown sources while anaemia due to iron deficiency only was 7.1%. Conclusion: It can safely be inferred that malaria and HIV predispose to anaemia than iron deficiency in the study area. Although pregnant women are dewormed and given IPTp for helminths and malaria treatment respectively, there should be complementary routine malaria screening at ANC visits for those with HCT values &lt;33% and those infected with HIV

Bacteraemia in patients admitted to an urban hospital in West Africa

BACKGROUND: Few studies on bacteraemia in Africa have been published. We aimed to prospectively identify the causative organisms of bacteraemia in The Gambia and their relation to clinical diagnoses, outcome and antimicrobial susceptibility. METHODS: Between November 2003 and February 2005 we studied those admitted to the Medical Research Council hospital who were suspected of having bacteraemia. We documented clinical features, outcome, pathogens identified and their susceptibility patterns, and searched for factors associated with bacteraemia. RESULTS: 871 patients were admitted and had a blood culture taken. The median age was 2 years (range 2 months to 80 years) and 36 of 119 tested were HIV positive; 54.5% were male. 297 (34%) had a positive result and 93 (10.7% overall) were considered a genuine pathogen. Those with bacteraemia were more likely to die in hospital (OR 2.79; 1.17–6.65, p = 0.017) and to have a high white cell count (WCC; OR 1.81;95% CI 1.09–3.02; p = 0.022). Three organisms accounted for 73% of bacteraemias: Streptococcus pneumoniae (45.2%), Staphylococcus aureus (18.3%) and Escherichia coli (9.7%) while non-typhoidal salmonellae (NTS) accounted for 8.6%. Antimicrobial susceptibility of S. pneumoniae was very high to penicillin (97.5%); high resistance was found to co-trimoxazole. S. aureus was generally highly susceptible to cloxacillin, gentamicin and chloramphenicol. E. coli and NTS were all susceptible to ciprofloxacin and mostly susceptible to gentamicin. Thirteen (33%) S. pneumoniae isolates were of serotypes contained in a 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and 20 (51.3%) were of the same serogroup. CONCLUSION: In The Gambia, those with bacteraemia are more likely than those without to die in hospital and to have a raised peripheral blood WCC. S. pneumoniae is the most common organism isolated. Introduction of a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine can be expected to lead to a reduction in disease incidence

Pneumococcal carriage in sub-Saharan Africa--a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Pneumococcal epidemiology varies geographically and few data are available from the African continent. We assess pneumococcal carriage from studies conducted in sub-Saharan Africa (sSA) before and after the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) era. METHODS: A search for pneumococcal carriage studies published before 2012 was conducted to describe carriage in sSA. The review also describes pneumococcal serotypes and assesses the impact of vaccination on carriage in this region. RESULTS: Fifty-seven studies were included in this review with the majority (40.3%) from South Africa. There was considerable variability in the prevalence of carriage between studies (I-squared statistic = 99%). Carriage was higher in children and decreased with increasing age, 63.2% (95% CI: 55.6-70.8) in children less than 5 years, 42.6% (95% CI: 29.9-55.4) in children 5-15 years and 28.0% (95% CI: 19.0-37.0) in adults older than 15 years. There was no difference in the prevalence of carriage between males and females in 9/11 studies. Serotypes 19F, 6B, 6A, 14 and 23F were the five most common isolates. A meta-analysis of four randomized trials of PCV vaccination in children aged 9-24 months showed that carriage of vaccine type (VT) serotypes decreased with PCV vaccination; however, overall carriage remained the same because of a concomitant increase in non-vaccine type (NVT) serotypes. CONCLUSION: Pneumococcal carriage is generally high in the African continent, particularly in young children. The five most common serotypes in sSA are among the top seven serotypes that cause invasive pneumococcal disease in children globally. These serotypes are covered by the two PCVs recommended for routine childhood immunization by the WHO. The distribution of serotypes found in the nasopharynx is altered by PCV vaccination

Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of artemether-lumefantrine in the treatment of acute uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Nigerian infants and children

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The six-dose regimen of artemether-lumefantrine (AL) is now considered the gold standard for the treatment of uncomplicated <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>malaria. There are few reports evaluating co-artemether in very young Nigerian infants and children. Results of the evaluation of the six-dose regimen in very young infants and children in Nigeria are presented in this report.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>As part of a larger African study, this open label, non-comparative trial, assessed the efficacy and safety of six-dose regimen of AL tablets in 103 Nigerian infants and children weighing between five and 25 kg suffering from acute uncomplicated malaria. Treatment was administered under supervision over three days with children as in-patients. 12-lead ECG tracings were taken pre-treatment and at day 3.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ninety-three infants and children completed the study as stipulated by the protocol. Mean fever and parasite clearance times for the intent to treat population (ITT) were 24.9 h ± (1.28) and 26 h ± (4.14) and the corresponding figures for the per-protocol population (PP) were 19.24 h ± 13.9 and 25.62 h ± 11.25 respectively. Day 14 cure rates for the ITT and PP were 95.1% and 100% respectively while day 28 cure rates were 91.3% and 95.7% respectively. The overall PCR corrected day 28 cure rate was 95.1% for the ITT. The six-dose regimen of AL was well tolerated with no drug-related serious adverse events. Although six patients recorded a QTc prolongation of > 60 ms on D3 over D0 recording, no patient recorded a QTc interval > 500 ms.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The six-dose regimen of AL tablets is safe and effective for the treatment of acute uncomplicated malaria in Nigerian infants and children weighing between five and 25 kg.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>NCT00709969</p