Life Quality Impairment Caused by Hookworm-Related Cutaneous Larva Migrans in Resource-Poor Communities in Manaus, Brazil

Hookworm-related cutaneous larva migrans (CLM) is a parasitic skin disease common in developing countries with hot climates. In resource-poor settings, CLM is associated with considerable morbidity. The disease is caused by animal hookworm larvae that penetrate the skin and migrate aimlessly in the epidermis as they cannot penetrate the basal membrane. Particularly in the rainy season, the intensity of infection is high with up to 40 larval tracks in an affected individual. Tracks are very itchy and are surrounded by a significant inflammation of the skin. Bacterial superinfection is common and intensifies the inflammation. The psychosocial consequences caused by CLM have never been investigated. We showed that CLM causes skin disease-associated life quality impairment in 91 patients with CLM. Skin disease-associated life quality was significantly impaired. The degree of impairment correlated to the intensity of infection and the number of body areas affected. After treatment with ivermectin, life quality was rapidly restored

Ethical, legal and social aspects of the approach in Sudan

The global malaria situation, especially in Africa, and the problems frequently encountered in chemical control of vectors such as insecticide resistance, emphasize the urgency of research, development and implementation of new vector control technologies that are applicable at regional and local levels. The successful application of the sterile insect technique (SIT) for the control of the New World screwworm Cochliomyia hominivorax and several species of fruit flies has given impetus to the use of this method for suppression or elimination of malaria vectors in some areas of Africa including Northern State of Sudan. The research and development phase of the Northern State feasibility study has been started. Sudanese stakeholders are working side-by-side with the International Atomic Energy Agency in the activities of this important phase. Several ethical, legal and social issues associated with this approach arose during this phase of the project. They need to be seriously considered and handled with care. In this paper, these issues are described, and the current and proposed activities to overcome potential hurdles to ensure success of the project are listed

Intestinal parasitic infections among expatriate workers in various occupations in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

ABSTRACT Intestinal parasitic infections are prevalent throughout many countries. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasite carriers among 21,347 expatriate workers, including food handlers and housemaids attending the public health center laboratory in Sharjah, UAE. Stool sample collection was performed throughout the period between January and December 2013. All samples were examined microscopically. Demographic data were also obtained and analyzed. Intestinal parasites were found in 3.3% (708/21,347) of the studied samples (single and multiple infections). Among positive samples, six hundred and eighty-three samples (96.5%) were positive for a single parasite: Giardia lamblia (257; 36.3%) and Entamoeba histolytica/Entamoeba dispar (220; 31.1%), respectively, whereas mono-infections with helminths accounted for 206 (29.1%) of the samples. Infection rates with single worms were: Ascaris lumbricoides (84; 11.9%), Hookworm (34; 4.8%), Trichuris trichiura (33; 4.7%), Taenia spp. (27; 3.81%), Strongyloides stercoralis (13; 1.8%), Hymenolepis nana (13; 1.8%), and Enterobius vermicularis (2; 0.28%), respectively. Infections were significantly associated with gender (x2 = 14.18; p = 0.002) with males as the most commonly infected with both groups of intestinal parasites (protozoa and helminths). A strong statistical association was noted correlating the parasite occurrence with certain nationalities (x2= 49.5, p <0.001). Furthermore, the study has also found a strong statistical correlation between parasite occurrence and occupation (x2= 15.60; p = 0.029). Multiple infections were not common (3.5% of the positive samples), although one individual (0.14%) had four helminth species, concurrently. These findings emphasized that food handlers with different pathogenic parasitic organisms may pose a significant health risk to the public

Performance study of power control radio resource management over WLANs

Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) based on IEEE 802.11 standard have been rapidly growing. With limitations of the WLAN standard and rapid increase in wireless application demand, the air interface acts as bottleneck even in high-speed WLAN standards such as IEEE 802.11a and 802.11g with expected data transmission rates of up to 54 Mbps. To improve the overall performance of IEEE 802.11 WLAN under large deployment and heavy application demand environment, Radio Resource Management (RRM) algorithms based on power control have been investigated and tested through simulation. The results show that controlling the Wireless Terminal's (WT) transmitter power to an optimum power level helps in increasing data throughput in WLANs and when the transmitter power level of a WT is increased beyond the optimum power level, the overall data throughputs drop drastically no matter how high the WT's transmitter power may be increased

Low noise amplifier design for LEO satellite applications

This paper presents a novel approach for designing a low noise amplifier (LNA) intended for use in LEO (low earth orbit) satellite systems. The design was based on an MGA 52543 Agilent Technologies manufactured microwave transistor which produces a maximum gain of 15.8 dB and a minimum noise figure of 1.7 dB at the design frequency of 0.9 GHz. Microwave Office software was used in circuit designing and analysis, followed by a prototype implementation by using microstrip technology. The results obtained show that at the design frequency of 0.9 GHz a gain of 15.7 and a noise figure of 1.6 have been achieved, which are quite close to the specified ideal values

Radio resource management for WLAN networks through power control

Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) based on IEEE 802.11 standard have been rapidly growing. With limitations of the standard and rapid increase in wireless application demand, the air interface acts as bottleneck even in high-speed WLAN standards such as IEEE 802.11a and 802.11g with expected data transmission rates of up to 54 Mbps. To improve the overall performance of IEEE 802.11 WLAN under large deployment and heavy application demand environment, Radio Resource Management (RRM) algorithms based on power control have been investigated and tested through simulation. The results show that controlling the wireless terminal's (WT) transmitter power to an optimum power level is important. This results into an increased data throughput in a WLAN network and when the transmitter power level of a WT is increased beyond the optimum power level, the throughputs drop drastically no matter how high the WT's transmitter power may be increased

Biological and molecular characterization of moroccan watermelon mosaic virus and a potyvirus isolate from eastern Sudan

International audienceA potyvirus (Su-94-54) was isolated from a naturally infected snake cucumber (Cucumis melo var. flexuosus) plant with severe mosaic and leaf deformation symptoms collected in Eastern Sudan. This isolate has a host range limited to cucurbits and is serologically distantly related to Moroccan watermelon mosaic virus (MWMV) and to Papaya ringspot virus (PRSV). Coat protein sequence analysis of Su-94-54 and MWMV and comparison with other potyviruses indicate that Su-94-54 is more closely related to MWMV than to any other potyvirus. Based on the amino acid sequence identity in the core part of the coat protein with MWMV (86%), this isolate could be regarded as a distinct species. However, because of biological, cytological, and serological affinities with MWMV, we propose that this isolate be considered as a strain of MWMV, possibly an evolutionary intermediate between MWMV and PRSV, until more is known on the structure of the PRSV subgroup within the genus Potyvirus